If I Could Turn Back Time
by jenwin23
Summary: Set in an AU S9. Kara and Chloe's remaining Brainiac abilities result in a new power for both: Time travel. Chloe decides the ability to go back in time to save the ones she loves most is too good an opportunity to waste.
1. Ch1: Unexpected Possibilities

**If I could turn back time**

_Summary: Set somewhere in S9 when the Kandorian thing wasn't going crazy. Every time Future-Brainiac comes back to the past the AI syncs with any remnants of his old self in that time. When he makes a trip to 2009 the two individuals on the plant who had been effected by Brainiac before and retained some of his Artificial Intelligence gain the ability to time travel. _

_Kara and Chloe both decide that the ability to go back in time to save the ones they love most is too good an opportunity to waste, despite Clark's reservations about time travel. _

_**Chapter 1: The here and now**_

"What will you do?" Chloe asked Kara with her eyes hazy, her thoughts already on where she would go to first.

"Home," Kara said simply.

Chloe smiled at Clark's cousin with some fear. "You know… you know that you'll have to face your father. And Zod." The girls weren't really friends, but they had grown to respect each other.

"I know, but I have to try to save my planet, my people, my family… even if that means," Kara broke off, unable to really voice the evils that her father had done, unable to voice the decision she might have to make to stop him from doing it again.

"If you succeed then that means that Clark will never come to Earth," Chloe said, trying to imagine her life without meteor showers, kryptonite powers or Clark Kent.

"I know," Kara said resolutely. "I'm sorry if that hurts you, but I have to try."

"I know. I understand. Do you know the various theories on time travel?"

Kara smiled. "You are an odd human Chloe Sullivan."

"Yeah, tell me something I don't know. There are competing thoughts on time travel, some say that you can't come in contact with your past self, that you can only travel back to the beginning of your own lifespan. Others say that with each action you do, even the smallest ones you create a ripple in time that changes everything."

"A butterfly in Egypt bats it's wings," Kara recalled from a human book.

"Yes. So each thing we do could create a new reality, an alternate version of the one we know."

"That's a lot of ripples, do you think it's like that?" Kara asked Chloe. Despite Kara coming from the more advanced race, Chloe had retained more of Brainiac's intelligence, and was undoubtedly better informed on the topic.

"No. From what the Legion said, I think that we can change things, but when we change big things we might create an alternate reality."

"So the things we're trying to stop still happen in one reality…"

"But in another, things change. A new history falls into place."

"Which reality do we stay in?" Kara asked in a worried tone.

"I have no idea. I don't know how long we can go back or even how long this ability will last."

"So we could get stuck in the past. Our selves from this reality will just disappear."

"Or time could really be as simple as a line, and we'll be able to change things and only one reality remains, only different. And hopefully better."

"Definitely better," Kara agreed.

"No matter how it works, we may not remember the new reality when we return to this time."

Both girls nodded solemnly. They would still remember the pain of their lives, but hopefully the people they loved would have happier, longer lives if they were successful. "Good luck," Chloe offered with a brave smile.

"You too, odd earthling," Kara agreed. Kara raised her arm above her head and was gone in a blink of the eye, only a faint dot in the sky.

"Maybe Brainiac can learn how to fly, that'd be super cool," Chloe said with a nervous laugh.

Chloe rushed back to the Watchtower to work out her plan and leave messages for Oliver and Lois. She knew that she may not be coming back, and that if she does make it back her life may be irrevocably altered.

Chloe thought her best bet was to work from the farthest moment back forward, that way she'd be able to see if the change she wanted to result had actually happened. She laid out the dates and events carefully.

Lionel's murder of his parents.

Dr. Swan's contacting Lionel to join the Verita's Society (Though that one may not happen if Lionel fails to build LuthorCorp without the inheritance from his parents.)

Lionel's murder of Oliver's parents. (Oliver not being an orphan would undoubtedly change the course of his life. His having a family may mean he never becomes Green Arrow, never comes to Metropolis, that he and Chloe never meet or fall in love. But he would have a family, he would have everything he'd always wanted, everything Lionel had stolen from him. Chloe's eyes filled with tears as she realized what she could lose, but she smiled at what she could give to Oliver.)

Her mother's leaving.

Lois's mother's cancer. (Maybe she couldn't stop that one, but maybe she could get her aunt to go to the doctor sooner. Maybe that would be enough.)

There were so many events, some that were sure to be altered by other changes she planned to make. Jonathon Kent's death. Julian Luthor's death. Lillian Luthor's death. Duncan Allenmeyer's death. Oliver's being shipwrecked on the island for two years. Tess. Lana marrying Lex. Davis. Lionel's attempts to control and kill Lex. The Kent's going to Lionel's for help with Clark's adoption. Pete's family selling the corn factory to Lionel.

If Chloe stopped Lionel from becoming a global magnate, and Kara stopped the destruction of Krypton, then with just those two changes the world Chloe knew would be completely altered.

Chloe changed into a pair of jeans a plain T-shirt and a nondescript cardigan, hoping that her clothes would not make her stand out in any time, unsure of when she'd be back to her time, whether she'd have time to buy new clothes. She snorted with laughter, thinking she could make a fortune on vintage clothing, if she were so inclined.

Pages were printing rapidly from a nearby printer and Chloe checked the status bar on her Watchtower Work station. Eighty-four percent done.

She walked to a hidden wall save and pulled a few bundles of cash then stuffed her laptop into a messenger bag along with a charger with a world converter and the pages from the printer. She wasn't sure the computer would work in the past, she wasn't sure she wouldn't end up naked when she got there, but she wanted to give herself the best chance she could.

Chloe stuffed all her supplies in the messenger bag and looked around the room. Her eyes got shiny and her mouth wobbled as her eyes landed on the bouquet of flowers Oliver had just sent to her. He was out of town for four more days. Hopefully she would be back before he missed her. Hopefully he would still want her in whatever future she returned to.

Chloe forced herself to walk out, didn't allow herself any second thoughts as she visited the jewelry district and bought diamonds and gold with her 2010 cash. Walking towards Suicide Slums she kept her eyes open for buildings that were built prior to 1950. She needed a safe and secluded place to leave and hopefully arrive both safe and unnoticed.

Standing on the roof of the old Cortez Hotel, Chloe's phone buzzed with an incoming text message. She pulled out her phone and saw a message from Oliver. "I miss you Sidekick, talk tonight?"

Chloe smiled sadly and texted him back quickly. "Can't, having girls night with L. I've been thinking about what you asked me. Ask me again when you get back." Chloe typed in "Love you" then deletes it before sending the message. Turning her phone off, she slid it into her pocket and closed her eyes. She imagined herself in 1961 and when she opened her eyes the city was different, fifty years younger.

_AN- I get story ideas all the time, but usually just jot them down and stick with my current story, for some reason this one just wanted to get out. I'm thinking it's less than 10 chapters, not sure of the ending, but I have a few of the chapters half written now… the story will focus on Chloe and Earth, but we'll see the success of Kara (or not) in the effects here._


	2. Ch2:The Luthors

_AN—the time line for Lionel and his family's lifetimes is confused on . I'm going with Lionel being born in 1944, and attempting to kill his parents at 17 in 1961._

_- A lifetime is only one day in heaven...or in hell.—_

**The Luthors, 1961, Suicide Slums, Metropolis**

Chloe kept her head up as she walked through Metropolis. The city was different, younger, smaller, less cosmopolitan. It was 1961, in Suicide Slums, the air was filled with smoke from nearby factories, clean air acts not yet law. Fewer cars filled the street, but each one looked gigantic to Chloe, who was used to compact vehicles. Chloe got some hard looks as she walked and quickly figured out that 1961 was right at the beginning of the nationwide civil rights movement, and a blonde white girl walking through a black neighborhood was not helping her blend in.

The neighborhood was still slums, only in 1961 the neighborhood was clearly divided with African American families on to the south of Home Avenue and poor Irish and other Caucasian poor to the north.

It didn't take Chloe long to locate Lachlan and Eliza Luthor. She had their apartment building address from the insurance claim Lionel had filed to get his "inheritance." Lionel even looked right at her as he passed the bus bench she'd taken position on. Chloe looked away, careful to not draw undue attention to herself. As the sun set she knew she needed to take shelter. Quickly finding a pawn shop to trade in some of her gold and buy a gun, she chooses a hotel in a nearby neighborhood, ignoring the looks that she gets for being a single woman traveling alone. She barely resisted rolling her eyes and putting the hotel clerk in a sleeper hold for insinuating that he'd be happy to send some business her way if she'd share the profits.

Placing a straight back chair under her doorknob and placing with her newly bought gun under her pillow, she looked through her printouts. Tomorrow she had to find a friendly police officer and offer him a tip on a crime she knew would occur later that day. She figured after a few tips they'd be willing to take a chance on her when she told them that Lionel was about to commit arson with his good pal Morgan Edge.

First thing in the morning she needed to get some fake ID, the police would undoubtedly look into her past but given the absence of computers and databases in 1961, Chloe was pretty sure just a driver's license in an assumed name would get her by.

Chloe found her officers in the most stereotypical place possible. The doughnut shop. She'd been drawn in by the smell of strong black coffee and within five minutes of taking a seat, two uniformed officers entered.

Chloe observed how the waitress acted towards the officers, knowing that her normal assertiveness would likely be perceived as brash and unfeminine in the current timeframe. Chloe wouldn't care less if it didn't mean she would have a harder time gaining their trust.

Chloe waited for the officers to show signs that they were leaving then times it so she arrived at the swinging glass door just as they do. As expected the younger officer rushed to open the door for her and she tried to look as young, startled, and innocent as possible, managing to nearly stutter her thanks, then looking back at the officers on the sidewalk her face full of fearful indecision. She looked at them, tugged at her hair, turned to walk hesitantly towards them, before stopping in place and biting her lip. She managed to hold back her smile as her helpless female ruse works and the officers approached her. "Is there a problem miss? We'd be happy to help."

The next morning the same two officers arrived at the doughnut shop full of smiles. Their Capitan was happy that the tip Chloe had given them had resulted in a drug bust. Drugs were a new threat to the city, and any drug bust drummed up tons of praise and publicity. Officers Drew Brown and Mike Wheeler had kept their word and kept Chloe's name out of it, happy to accept the praise.

As the officers saw Chloe sitting at the counter alone they approach and took each of the chairs next to her. "Morning, ma'am. That information you gave us sure paid off. How'd a sweet little thing like you happen to know something like that anyway?"

Chloe smiled, making her eyes as wide and naive looking as possible. "I just moved here and I got lost. I stopped for directions at a gas station a few blocks over and just happened to overhear some men talking."

"A few blocks from here? You should be careful miss, that's Suicide Slums and no place for a lady like you."

"I'm still looking for work, and I can't afford much. I'm not sure a nice neighborhood like this is within my budget," Chloe said stoically.

The officers buy her act and helpfully offer her advice on which neighborhoods to look for work in and which to avoid. That afternoon she rushes into their prescient and asks for the two officers. When they arrive at the front counter Chloe reels off her newest tip, carefully selected from her list from one of the neighborhoods that they'd recommended she look for work in. This time Chloe claimed to have witnessed a hold up at a grocery store, and offered a very detailed description of the assailant.

Chloe's friendly officers go to find the detectives assigned to the case and Chloe plays up her fear with just an edge of excitement to her tone. No one questions her being in the exact wrong place two days in a row.

_-Acceptance of one's life has nothing to do with resignation; it does not mean running away from the struggle. On the contrary, it means accepting it as it comes, with all the handicaps of heredity, of suffering, of psychological complexes and injustices. Paul Tournier-_

Chloe decided not to push her luck too far and waited another day before laying the groundwork for tipping off the police to what Lionel and Morgan Edge were planning. She had done some more reconnaissance on the Luthor's apartment and had come to the conclusion that Lionel's parents were not the innocent victims that she had imagined them. Somehow 'grandparent' always brought up images of sweet old people, sipping tea, reading the paper and puttering about with sweet dispositions. That was not the reality of Lex's grandparents. Lachlan seemed to be involved with the local mob, acting as some sort of enforcer and Eliza was the neighborhood drunk. Neither seemed to care much for their son, who at 17 years old came and went at all hours of the day and night.

Chloe wondered about heredity, and how bad traits may pass from fathers to sons, from Lachlan to Lionel to Lex, despite the best intentions of the sons to avoid the fate of their fathers. Regardless that the victims were not so innocent, Lionel was still planning to kill them, and he would take the money from the insurance policy they'd bought and use it to start LuthorCorp. And with LuthorCorp came power. Power that Lionel would use to destroy thousands of lives.

Chloe managed to get an interview at one of the offices that handled the paperwork for ships coming and going from the docks, giving her a reasonable excuse to have new information for the police. The docks weren't the safest place to be in 2010, but in 1961, the docks were downright scary.

The next morning Chloe stands hidden in a crowd that has come out to watch as the fire department put out a fire on the 5th story of an eight story walk up in Suicide Slums. The officers had questioned Chloe in more depth than the previous two times, advising her to steer clear of the docks and any Luthor she came across, but she'd thought she'd convinced them. Obviously not.

The firemen bring out two bodies and Chloe feels bitter tears slip down her cheeks. She'd failed. Lionel had killed his parents and he would get away with it, again. She'd have to find another point in time where he was vulnerable. Chloe turns to walk away, eager to get back to her time and formulate a new plan when she sees Lionel and Morgan Edge both in handcuffs being led from the building.

"That's cold kid, killing your own parents," the officer comments.

"My parents are dead, this is a travesty of justice! I'm innocent, but you fools don't care about the real murderer you just want the easy collar," Lionel complained, putting all his acting skills to work.

"Funny thing Luthor, we had the place staked out last night. Officers saw everything. You're going to jail."

Morgan Edge's cold eyes move from Lionel to the few officers standing about outside the building.

Chloe smiled brightly, feeling like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Lionel was being arrested. He wouldn't get away with it. Chloe turned away quickly, wanting to collect her belongings and get home as soon as possible.

_-Life consists not simply in what heredity and environment do to us but in what we make out of what they do to us. Harry Emerson Fosdick-_

Returning to her time on the roof of the El Cortez, Chloe hesitated before turning to look at the skyline where LuthorCorp's headquarters had always dominated the city during her lifetime. Chloe's heart sank as she saw the familiar skyscraper is still present, still lit up with LuthorCorp's logo.

Pushing down her disappointment, she turned on her phone to find 16 missed calls, a few from Oliver and Lois, but most from Clark. Chloe feels a bit of dread as she knows she's going to have to have to get Clark to back off and hopefully keep her new power a secret.

Rushing back to Watchtower, Chloe checks her text messages to see that Oliver is due in that night. Listening to her voicemail but deleting each increasingly concerned message from Clark, Chloe felt her stomach tighten with tension. She and Oliver had been getting closer and closer, but neither had voiced any clear intent to deviate from their "no strings" policy.

Before he had left on his trip Oliver had asked her if she was happy with how things were. He hadn't said anything outright, but Chloe had read his look. Oliver had been ignoring the rules for awhile now. He called her most nights he was out of town, spending most of the nights he was in town with her. He sent her text messages and flowers, even left notes for her stuck to her computer screens in Watchtower just to remind her to eat or that he was thinking about her.

Chloe knew things had changed, she knew that her emotions had quickly out stripped the friends with benefits label she clung too. She loved Oliver. She thought he felt something more than friendship for her too. What she didn't know was how to make a real relationship work.

* * *

-AN I'm going fast here, so I know there are lots of little errors in the story. Sorry for that.


	3. Ch3: Back to the Future

_Set somewhere in S9 when the Kandorian thing wasn't going crazy. Every time Future-Brainiac comes back to the past the AI syncs with any remnants of his old self in that time. When he makes a trip to 2009 the two individuals on the plant who had been effected by Brainiac before and retained some of his Artificial Intelligence gain the ability to time travel. Kara and Chloe both decide that the ability to go back in time to save the ones they love most is too good an opportunity to waste, despite Clark's reservations about time travel._

Disclaimer: Clearly not mine. I barely even know anything about Smallville so it couldn't have come from me.

**If I could turn back time**

_Summary: Set somewhere in S9 when the Kandorian thing wasn't going crazy. Every time Future-Brainiac comes back to the past the AI syncs with any remnants of his old self in that time. When he makes a trip to 2009 the two individuals on the plant who had been effected by Brainiac before and retained some of his Artificial Intelligence gain the ability to time travel. _

_Kara and Chloe both decide that the ability to go back in time to save the ones they love most is too good an opportunity to waste, despite Clark's reservations about time travel. _

_AN- For the purposes of this fic, imagine that Oliver had tried to kill Lex before, and that Lex had already killed Lionel._

_-You will never find time for anything. You must make it. M.P. Charles Buxton-_

**Ch. 3: Back to the Future**

Returning to Watchtower Chloe saw that the police case against Lionel in 1961 had fizzled out when the two police officers that had staked out the apartment building conveniently changed their story and said it was too dark to be sure who or what they saw that night. He'd only spent nine days in jail for murdering his parents.

Fortunately the insinuation of murder was enough for the insurance company to withhold payment to Lionel. Unfortunately he'd managed to come into some money another way a few years later, and a few years after that (later than what had happened in the original timeline) had started LuthorCorp.

The accusation of murder had followed Lionel all through his career, and resulted in fewer business deals. LuthorCorp wasn't as large or as far reaching as the one before Chloe had altered the past, but it was still a global powerhouse.

Chloe stopped to get a cup of coffee and wondered if there were some things you just couldn't change. Lionel's ambition had been slowed, but not stopped. Her internet search revealed that Lex had still had a difficult life and Oliver's parents were still dead.

She'd have to try again.

Looking deeper into the new-LuthorCorp Chloe found an alarming change in the timeline. While the Lionel from her past had tried to keep his nose clean, at least publically, the new-Lionel had seemed to have been deep into organized crime and there was an alarming body count of LuthorCorp rivals, police officers, and public figures who had dared to oppose him. Public documents didn't reveal enough, so Chloe hacked into the MPD databases to find case files revealing a long and ongoing investigation into Lionel and his association with Morgan Edge.

When Oliver entered Watchtower that evening, he found Chloe staring blankly at her computer screen. "Chloe?" He crossed over to her and placing his hand on her shoulder, checking her screen to see old murder case files, all cases tied to Lionel but not proven. "What's up? You think there's another way to take down Lionel? Maybe one of these old cases? What'd you'd find?"

"Nothing. Just…" She waved her hand at the screen, so many murders, so many unsolved murders and disappearances. She had tried to do something good, tried to stop Lionel Luthor, and it hadn't worked. She had to go back, had to fix what she'd messed up.

"Chloe?" Oliver asked in concern.

Chloe turned around in her chair and stood up into Oliver's embrace, kissing him as if her life depended on it. Oliver was a bit unsure of her reactions, but responded quickly, kissing her back and pulling her closer to his body. Oliver had been gone for eight days and the worst part of the trip hadn't been endless meetings or impersonal hotel rooms or ass-kissing diplomats and executives, it had been being away from Chloe.

Oliver expected that Chloe would pull back. She'd been very consistent in her desire to keep their non-relationship a secret. But she surprised him. Chloe didn't pull back, she showed no signs of pulling away from Oliver at all and he recalled her text to him a few days earlier and felt a corresponding feeling of optimism fill his chest.

Oliver had been waiting for weeks for Chloe to get used to the idea of them being together. She was skittish and Oliver understood that. He'd been there as her relationship with Jimmy, then her marriage, and finally her life had deconstructed around her, with everyone including Oliver and her best friend Clark abandoning her after everything was in ashes.

Oliver scooped her up into his arms, holding her tight as he walked towards the small Watchtower bedroom that Chloe occupied when she stayed in Metropolis. Oliver had experienced some seriously detailed daydreams about having Chloe on nearly each piece of furniture and equipment in Watchtower but for right now, he wanted to spend hours with her in bed, not a quick fuck on her desk, even if she would allow it.

_-It's no wonder that truth is stranger than fiction. Fiction has to make sense. Mark Twain—_

Chloe woke up wrapped in Oliver's warm embrace. Adjusting her position slowly, she maneuvered until she was lying against his chest, slowly tracing her fingers over the strong lines of his face. He didn't stir under her touch and she relaxed against him, staring affectionately at his handsome countenance. Chloe still felt confused, as if the world had taken a wrong turn when it put her and Oliver together, but she couldn't deny how she felt for him any longer. An improbably, completely unexpectedly, Oliver seemed to feel something for her too.

Chloe wanted so much just to stay with Oliver, here and now, stay in his arms, in this world no matter its evils. But she couldn't. It would be selfish. Chloe had been given a great power. One that frightened her with its responsibility, but she couldn't turn away from the opportunity. She had the chance to change the course of lives, so many lives. The lives of people she knew, and so many more that she didn't.

Her first foray into the past hadn't turned out exactly like she'd wanted, but she couldn't give up now. At the very least she had to fix what she'd made worse. She needed to stop Lionel, stop him from his reign of terror and stop him from killing the Queens.

Love, real love, was unselfish. It was constantly in her mind that if she succeeded in stopping Lionel from rising to power in the past, she risked losing Oliver. She blew out a shaky breath, using all her stubborn determined nature to hold on to her plan. She would stop Lionel, she would save Oliver's parents. She would try to help her mother and her aunt. She would do her best for each of them, no matter what it cost her personally.

Oliver woke up a few minutes later to find Chloe watching him with sad eyes. "Chloe… what's bothering you?"

She smiled brightly, but the smile never reached her eyes. "Nothing, I just missed you."

Oliver frowned slightly, nodding his head in acceptance, knowing that no matter how hard he pushed if she didn't want to reveal what was in her head, she wouldn't. Chloe gave new definition to stubborn. Oliver assumed it was a family trait that both Chloe and Lois had inherited.

Oliver tightened his arms around Chloe, her smaller form pressed tightly to his body, and rolled them to their sides. Repositioning so both their heads were on the pillows, facing each other, Oliver searched her face for what she was thinking.

Chloe smiled slowly and this time, Oliver was relieved to note, it reached her eyes. "I suppose you want to talk." Oliver nodded lightly, his lips turning up as she laughed lightly to herself. "Oliver Queen likes to cuddle and instigates relationship talks in bed with a willing and naked, I might add, woman. The media would never believe me."

Oliver taped her nose playfully. "They'll get used to the idea."

Chloe's face was wreathed with smiles again, but he felt her uneasy breath in as she prepared herself for the conversation he'd been hinting at for awhile now. "Friends with benefits isn't really working, is it?" she began cautiously.

"We work. And it was never really friends with benefits. That's what you were comfortable with and I ran with it."

Chloe bit her lip, regarding him with some wry amusement. "So what you're saying is that our relationship started with a lie."

Oliver shrugged lightly, accepting her statement. "I wanted you and I was willing to take whatever route got us here."

"And now?" Chloe asked with her nervousness showing.

"And now I think you're ready to accept the idea that there might be something more. That we could be more."

"Is that what you want?" Chloe asked, watching his eyes carefully.

"I want…" he smiles, moving forward to press a kiss against her soft mouth. "I want everything Sidekick. With you. But I'm willing to go one step at a time if that's what you need."

"And the first step, besides getting me in bed," Oliver grinned wolfishly at her words, "is to admit that this is a relationship."

"That would be a good starting point. We could also admit that we care about each other."

Chloe pressed her lips together in an annoyed fashion. "You know I care about you."

"I was actually thinking of a different word for it," Oliver said in a calm and utterly serious tone.

Chloe swallows convulsively, feeling as if her heart had actually stopped beating as she processed his words. Attempting to cover her reaction with humor she deliberately makes her voice light, "So step one, get her in bed. Step two, get her to agree to relationship status. Step three, the I love yous? You're staircase seems to be missing a few steps."

"I like to move fast when I know what I want. And I do know what I want Chloe. I –"

She silenced him with her fingers pressed lightly to his lips. She took a few deep breaths and nodded slowly. "Please… I want to hear it, I do, but can we just slow down a minute." Oliver saw the slight panic in her eyes, the shadows of thoughts he wasn't privy to.

He maintained his silence while she gathered herself. Oliver stroked his hand up and down her side soothingly, trying to reassure her. "What would change, logistically, right now, if we… I mean I still live here, and you're all over the place, and with the Kandorians we need to have a presence here… " Seeing Oliver's expression tighten with tension, she rushed to continue. "I'm not saying… that we shouldn't… that I don't… but I just need to know what you expect."

Oliver nodded slowly, waiting to see if she was done. "I know that it makes sense for you to be in Metropolis for now, we need to keep on top of what's happening here, but later, as Watchtower you could travel with me, at least part of the time. If you went back to journalism, maybe you could do freelance… that would be ideal. And," he pauses," I'm not pushing you Chloe, and it's not an ultimatum, but I'd like it if you moved in to the Clock Tower, then at least for the time I'm here, we'd be together. If we're talking about titles, I think we could think of something better than 'boyfriend-girlfriend' or 'significant others.'"

She offered him a shaky smile. "Step four, moving in. You certainly don't waste time."

"That can happen whenever-"

She cuts him off again, "I think… I think I'm OK with that. Commuting from Smallville and staying at Watchtower isn't ideal and I want to spend as much time with you that I can." _Whatever time we have left_, Chloe thought to herself.

"Yeah?" A wide smile adorned his face. "You have some boxes around here?"

"You _really_ don't waste any time, do you," she laughed.

"I try not to. And Chloe?" He cupped a calloused hand around her cheek, looking deep into her eyes, "I love you."

Her heart catches and tears filled her eyes. "I love you too, Oliver Queen."

Oliver probably would have moved her into the Clock Tower that same day if he hadn't been called away on work. A fire at a factory in Pakistan was turning into a major story, and a PR nightmare. Three people had died and the media were using the words "sweat shop" and "human rights violations" without any facts.

Chloe smiled bravely and kissed him goodbye, wishing that they could have had more time.

_-The noir hero is a knight in blood caked armor. He's dirty and he does his best to deny the fact that he's a hero the whole time. Frank Miller-_

When Oliver returned to Metropolis the following week, he found several boxes pushed to the side of his the Clock Tower's entryway, and as he explored further some of Chloe's personal items scattered around the bedroom and bathroom. He smirked, remembering her indignant phone call when she'd returned to Watchtower one night to find all her stuff gone and an email from Oliver telling her he'd handle the logistics of moving her stuff from Smallville too as soon as she packed.

"What was that about you not being pushy?" she questioned archly.

"This way when I do get back we can spend our time on more pleasurable things than moving."

"Always a smart answer for everything."

"As if you'd have it any other way," he had bantered back.

Pulling up her location by her phone's GPS, he saw that she was in the city, moving back towards his loft. He smiled. Their loft.

When she arrived on the elevator, Oliver's welcoming smile quickly turned into a frown, as he saw how tired she looked. She looked upset and upon seeing Oliver her expression took on a transparently guilty look. "Ollie," she exclaimed. "I didn't expect you…" her voice trailed off and she tried to cover with a bright smile.

"What's going on Chloe?" he asked, his tone harder than he'd intended.

Her face crumpled. "I… I…"

"Chloe."

"Everything is just going wrong. How are things ever going to be better? We have all these resources, knowledge, abilities, and nothing has changed. It stays the same, or it gets worse." Her dejected words spill out and Oliver forgets his suspicions in the face of her weariness.

"It will get better Sidekick. It will. We'll keep working at it until we succeed."

She smiled at his optimism, trying to let go of the disappointment of having failed to stop Lionel in the past yet again. Right after Ollie left for Pakistan, she'd discovered that Lionel and Morgan Edge had taken down one of the major crime families in the new timeline, that's how Lionel had gotten the capital to start LuthorCorp, and why he'd maintained strong ties to organized crime.

Chloe had gone back and tried to stop them, had succeeded by planting just a bit of suspicion about Lionel and Morgan with one of the men higher up in the organization, but returning to the future Chloe found that once again, Lionel had found a way to get a sum of cash and start LuthorCorp. The fourth time around (Chloe was trying to keep track with her reality being the first) he'd been delayed in starting up LuthorCorp for five years. LuthorCorp still grew into a global force to be reckoned with, and Lionel still got involved with Veritas, with Clark, with Kryptonite, and still killed Oliver's parents.

Chloe had taken another shot at it, and tried again. Going to the past she decided to attack Lionel after he'd founded LuthorCorp, but when the company was still young and growing rapidly. Chloe was sure she could find something, some law that Lionel had broken and enough evidence to put him away for good.

Unfortunately, in 1982, Lionel was just as paranoid and just as ruthless as he'd been later when Chloe had met him. And unfortunately, in 1982, Lionel was just beginning to embrace computers, and most of his files were still stored on paper in locked LuthorCorp stockrooms. Chloe couldn't hack her way in, she'd had to get in then look through each file. It had taken an inordinate amount of time and Chloe had been caught. Racing back into the file room to escape Lionel's security team, she'd made the split second decision to time jump. She knew the storeroom still existed in 2010, she just hoped it hadn't been converted into anything with tougher security than what she was currently running from.

Chloe had slid through time in the split second it took her to decide to do so. And back in 2010, she ran straight into a desk, bruising her shins as she slammed into the desk, then fell over the top as her upperbody had kept going. Tumbling over the other side to the floor in a heap, Chloe still appeared dazed when Lex's security found her.

Heaving a great sigh of disbelief at her bad luck, Chloe had sized up the security guards and then the cameras and how far she'd have to go to get out of the building and knew that she'd have better odds taking her chances with Lex. He hadn't come after her in awhile, and in his office at least, there were no cameras. If she did need to "jump" she could do it from there.

The two burly security guards marched her up to the 49th floor where Lex's office was, and Chloe gleaned that she was on Lex's top ten do not enter list. That at least made her smile.

Entering Lex's office to find him reviewing the video of her ignominious arrival inside LuthorCorp wipes the smile clean. "Ms. Sullivan."

"Lex," Chloe greeted him back appearing to casually survey the room, but really looking for anyway out.

Lex nodded his dismissal to the two guards who exited the office silently. Lex let Chloe stew for a bit longer, restarting the video once again. "I must say, your…appearance has me intrigued."

"I've been breaking into LuthorCorp facilities since I was 14. I would have thought the novelty would have worn off by now," Chloe said easily.

He glanced down at the monitor again, making a small noise of sympathy as she crashes into, then over the desk finally landing on the floor. "I don't recall you being quite so clumsy. There was always a certain grace about you, at least when you weren't pestering me with questions."

Chloe made a faux sad face. "Aw. And here I thought you would have appreciated my diligent pursuit of the truth. That was a passion of yours as well, once. Before you became obsessed with power, just like your father."

Lex tensed for a moment, just long enough for Chloe to register that her aim had been dead on. His emotions hidden again, he arched one eyebrow at her. "So what happened?" he waves his hand at the computer monitor. "You and Clark were out for a midnight run and you lost your grip on him?"

Chloe schooled her expression to reveal nothing, but she knew that just by her stillness Lex would know his hit was as successful as hers. "No Clark this time, just me."

Lex stared her down, trying to break her with silent threat, but Chloe withstood his gaze. His gaze drifted down her body. "My guards didn't search you, since it appears that you didn't have a chance to get into anything, but perhaps…" He walked towards her and Chloe forced herself to hold her ground. As he came to a stop inches in front of her Chloe pulls out a sheet of paper from her pocket, just a list of names and projects from the early days of LuthorCorp, if the person looking wasn't well versed in LuthorCorp's history of dirty deals and payoffs. "This is what you came for? Old projects? Old employees and supporters of my father's? To be honest, that's a bit disappointing. The man is dead. Let him rest in peace."

"It's quite a family legacy. Lionel killed his parents. You killed him. Lucas tried to kill you. Your mother…" Lex inhales sharply and Chloe broke off looking shamefaced. "I'm sorry. That was uncalled for, no matter what you've become."

"My mother killed Julian."

"And you let your father believe you'd done it, to spare her."

"Not that it did much good. She died a few months later," Lex says without a trace of emotion. He moved away from Chloe to the bar where he poured himself a stiff drink.

Chloe couldn't stop herself from asking, "If you could have one of them back… no. Never mind, how could you choose between them."

"My mother. She was probably right about my father. He would have pitted us against each other just as he tried to force Lucas and I into battle just to prove who was worthy to be his heir."

"So instead you ran the gauntlet alone," she said softly.

Lex had let her leave unharmed and without calling the police and in the two days since then, Chloe had searched for another opportunity to stop Lionel in the past. She could only come up with one foolproof idea. If Lionel died, it would all stop. Chloe could easily think up fifty ways to engineer Lionel's death. She just wasn't sure she could do it and live with it.

Looking up at Oliver, seeing his concern for her, she had to ask. "Ollie… when you tried to kill Lex. Did you… would you have regretted it, if you had been successful?"

Oliver paused, giving her question serious consideration. "I think second guessing a decision like that is natural, but I'm not sure how I would feel about Lex being dead at my hand." She nodded. "I will say this, if ever I face off with Lex again, both of us armed, I wouldn't hesitate."

Chloe smiled sadly and wrapped her arms around Oliver's stomach. That's the conclusion she'd drawn herself. Killing Lionel in self defense, in the moment he was a mortal threat to someone, Chloe could do it. She could live with that. But to plot against him in cold blood. She wasn't sure she could live with it. Chloe relaxed against Oliver, making her decision. She would try other ways to stop Lionel.

Going back in time to kill Lionel would still be an option if her other gambits failed.

_-I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word. Martin Luther King, Jr.-_

Determining that stopping Lionel from building LuthorCorp was a futile effort, and unsure that her ability to time travel would last Chloe decides to go back and stop Lionel from getting involved in Veritas and hopefully therefore he would remain ignorant to Clark's arrival (since Kara hadn't been successful yet, and Chloe had no way of knowing what the blonde Kryptonian was up to) and would have no reason to kill Robert and Laura Queen.

If she was successful, she could save Dr. Swann, his daughter, the Queens and possibly Clark. Taking the ripples wider, if Lionel and Lex remained ignorant of Clark and meteor rock all the people they'd experimented on so cruelly would be spared that fate.

* * *

AN- this chapter has been done for a day, but the internet is not my frind right now. The next chapter is also done now, so if you want it, gimme what I want... an internet fix...kidding. Reviews. Review and I'll post a new chapter with Chlollie on my old as dirt desktop that actually can go online...

I'm having some serious internet issues... my wireless network says it's up, but it's not connected to the internet. What is that? I'm usually good with computers, but this is pissing me off. I'm about to reset the damn router to factory setting and start all over. But maybe it's a firewall on the laptop or the desktop or both. Grr.


	4. Ch4: Veritas

_-Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils. Hector Berlioz-_

**Ch. 4: Veritas**

Chloe sat in the back of a large lecture hall that was completely full. Students and faculty sat with rapt attention as Dr. Virgil Swann delivered a sold out guest lecture at Yale University. As he finished his talk, Dr. Bailyn, the head of the astronomy department, stood up to thank Dr. Swann and moderate a question and answer session.

When Chloe's turn came she stood up to accept the microphone. "Your work with satellite technology has revolutionized the industry and made our signals reach farther into space than previously thought possible. Most scientists at least agree about the possibility of life on other planets. What do you think is out there, Dr. Swann?" she asked with quiet intensity.

"I would day the universe is full of infinite possibilities, including life beyond our planet. If there are other civilizations out there, perhaps much advanced to our own, I believe our best chance of communicating with them would be through advanced satellite technology," Dr. Swann replied.

After the session ended Dr. Swann walked back to his car, to find a young blonde woman waiting for him. "Did you have another question?"

"I'm sorry to ambush you, but I have information you need to know."

"About life on other planets?" Dr. Swann asked with some humor.

Chloe smiled easily. "Yes. Specifically about Krypton and some messages you've been attempting to decode from the third galactic quadrant. You believe the transmissions are coming from the Rosette Nebula, but you're wrong."

"How do you know so much about my work?" he asked with suspicion.

"Research. You don't have anything to fear from me Doctor. I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here to stop you from getting involved with a man who will bring destruction to you and your family among many others."

"Perhaps you should explain yourself." Dr. Swann assessed her, feeling no threat from the small woman.

_-The truth is rarely pure and never simple. Oscar Wilde—_

Chloe let Dr. Swann lead her on the path up towards the Leitner Family Observatory and Planetarium in the mountains not far from Yale. Once there they stood alone on an observation deck. "This was one of my favorite places to think during my undergraduate studies," he commented. "Now, perhaps you can explain what you mean about a man who threatens my family. I have no family. My parents are dead and I'm not married."

"This is a difficult path to tread. You will have a family Doctor. A daughter. She was murdered not long after your death."

"You talk about it as if it is in the past."

"For me it is," Chloe says without a hint of humor, knowing Dr. Swann was intelligent enough to make the leap.

"You would have me believe you are from the future," he said with curiosity, but not derision.

"I could tell you many things, but since scientists like proof, I'm willing to show you," Chloe's offer was met with mild interest. "You said you were here often. In this very spot?"

"Yes."

"Give me an exact date and time, a time when you were alone here."

"December 5th 1965 between 9:15 and midnight," he offered without pausing to think about it for more than a few seconds.

"Not long after you met with Genevieve Teague in Paris."

"You're well informed. She is a lovely woman."

"You may be a brilliant scientist, Doctor, but you should try to develop a better sense of people," Chloe said with her lip curled up in scorn. "Wait right here. I'll be back," she laughed a bit to herself as she said it, imagining The Terminator, but knowing that the movie wouldn't become a pop culture reference for seven more years.

Chloe jumped back to the past to find the doctor exactly where he said he'd be. Lost in his own thoughts, alternating between staring at the stars and jotting notes into a leather bound notebook, a decade younger Dr. Swann was startled by Chloe's approach. "I'm sorry, the observatory's closed for repairs."

"Don't worry Doctor, I'm not staying. We just need to meet." He allowed her to shake his hand, staring at her in puzzlement. Chloe walked away, not wanting to "jump" right in front of him and risk diverting his mind from the stars to how a girl could be there one second then gone the next.

Chloe reappears in the time she'd left Dr. Swann, only now she was on the lower deck. He watched her with an eagle eyed gaze as she walked up the stairs and back towards him. "You were here, then gone, but I met you twelve years ago, right here."

"Twelve years, two seconds, it's all relative doctor."

"But you looked exactly the same as now. Exactly. How are you doing it, how do you travel through time, when did you come from? I have so many questions," he looked at her with wonder.

"Sorry to disappoint, but I have no idea how it works. The ability to time travel is from the very distant future, but I'm from 2009. I was born in 1987 in Metropolis."

"Metropolis? That's near Smallville."

Chloe laughed at the perspective of the scientist. Smallville was what was interesting to him, not the city. "Yes, I know you've already discovered that Smallville has some interesting readings of its own."

"Yes." He smiled hugely, his brain working furiously with which questions to ask her first.

Chloe stopped him before he could start. "I'm here to stop you from making a great mistake Dr. Swann. I can't answer your questions. It's a risk already, letting you see how I'm here."

"Each action you take could send endless ripples into the time space continuum. This is fascinating, are you moving faster than time, allowing yourself to wade through it as if it were a river, walking along the bank until you choose when and where to be?"

"When, yes. Where, no. I jump to the same spot I leave from."

"Have you tried?" he asked eagerly.

Chloe frowned, considering the question. "I can't say that I have."

He murmurs something about the relativistic decay of muons from cosmic ray showers and peers at her closer as if she might disappear right before his eyes.

"Focus, Doctor. In the next ten years your work and intelligence will make you the foremost researcher in your field," Chloe paused, trying to think of another way to tell him about Lionel and Veritas without giving too much away. "In my time a distant planet was destroyed, sending meteor fragments to Earth." Chloe paused, considering that if Kara was successful that it wouldn't happen that way. "A child traveled with the meteors in a spaceship. You intercepted the messages from the planet, as well as transmissions in the meteor shower as it traveled to Earth. You weren't sure if the Traveler was good or evil, and you wanted to be prepared. You founded a society for that purpose. You must not do that Doctor. There were four rich and powerful families in the group, and a scientist colleague of yours. Have no contact with Genevieve Teague, her husband or Lionel Luthor. They are dangerous, power hungry individuals. Your involvement with Lionel Luthor leads to the death of your daughter and Robert and Laura Queen."

"Robert?"

"Yes. You and the Queens wanted to protect the Traveler, while Lionel only wanted to control him, and Genevieve…"

"The stones from her dreams…"

"Yes. There have been many visits to Earth from other planets, the stones are alien."

"Krypton, you said that before. The planet that is destroyed… when does it happen, where is it located? I can focus my research-"

"No. I won't tell you anymore. Promise me Doctor, promise that you'll stay away from Lionel Luthor and the Teagues."

"I've never even heard of Lionel Luthor…"

"Promise me Doctor, don't make this a waste of my time."

"Are you the one who came to Earth in the meteor shower?" he asked persistently.

"No. Please, Dr. Swann. I know you are a good man. Trust me in this. I took a huge risk to show you how I know what I know," Chloe demanded his promise.

"I won't involve myself with Lionel Luthor or the Teagues. But Robert Queen and already know each other, we have a business collaboration."

"On satellites, I know. I have it on good authority that the Queens were good people," Chloe said with a soft smile.

"They are good people. Kind, generous, intelligent. I give you my word. I will never share my research or your secret with Lionel Luthor or Genevieve and her husband."

"Thank you doctor. It was nice to meet you." In a flash of green light Chloe is gone.

_-Anyone who doesn't take truth seriously in small matters cannot be trusted in large ones either.  
Albert Einstein-_

As Chloe "landed" back in 2009 her hopes were high even as her heart ached. Direct intervention in Lionel's life hadn't worked. Maybe going through Dr. Swann, a good person with good intentions, Chloe could keep Lionel from discovering Clark and meteor rocks. She could have done it this time- but that could mean losing Oliver.

As she walked down the streets of Metropolis the LuthorCorp sign high atop Lex's building seemed to mock Chloe, taunting her with its existence. Chloe approached the Clock Tower, taking a calming breath when she saw the Queen Industries insignia on the door. That didn't mean that nothing had changed, Queen Industries had a presence in cities around the world.

She approached the door with a hesitant smile, unsure if the guard would still know her. "Good evening Ms. Sullivan. You're working late this evening," the guard greeted her with a smile.

Chloe felt her face stiffen, but she tried to smile back. "Yeah…um… actually I think I lost my access card… for my office?" Chloe asked hesitantly.

The guard frowned, but before he could reply, the elevator slid open and Oliver Queen stepped off. Seeing Chloe he grins widely, nodding quickly in acknowledgement to the guard. "Chloe I was just on my way to meet you," Oliver said easily.

"You were, oh… um… OK, we should go then," Chloe stumbled over her words not having enough information to be sure of how she was supposed to react. Oliver's eyes gleamed and his smile grew wider.

"Ms. Sullivan lost her access card," the guard said with a grin. Chloe's eyes darted from the face she loved so much to the guard who seemed to be enjoying himself.

Oliver's grin faded, knowing that Chloe wasn't the type to lose or misplace things. "Get her card deactivated, will you George?" Oliver wrapped his arm around Chloe's shoulders ushering her out of the office lobby. Oliver glances down at Chloe, an odd look on his face. "Did you go home and change clothes? You didn't have to do that for me. You know I'm a fan of your work outfits," Oliver flirted.

Still trying to grasp the threads of this reality, Chloe tried to read Oliver, only seeing delight with some confusion in his face. "Oh, I… spilled something," Chloe improvised.

"Coffee again? Should we deviate from our normal Wednesday night date?" He was clearly teasing her, and Chloe smiled. If this reality was going to work out she needed to figure out her place in it ASAP.

"Never," she drawled causing Oliver to laugh.

He hugged her tighter to his side, looking down into her somewhat reserved face. "There's something different about you tonight."

"There is? Oh, I mean, I guess I'm just in a weird mood," Chloe tries to deflect him.

"Yeah, anything I should know?" He stopped at a small café, opening the door for Chloe and she entered as if she'd known that it was their destination all along.

Chloe bites her lip. "Nope."

"As if you would make it that easy for me," Oliver laughs again, placing his hand at her back as they steped towards the counter.

Chloe peers up at the chalkboard menu, looking at the offerings, until she felt the weight of two stares on her. Her eyes dart to Oliver then the barista. Both were staring at her as if she'd done something completely crazy. "What?" she questioned self consciously.

One of Oliver's eyebrows wings upwards. "You. Looking at the menu, as if you ever get anything besides a blueberry muffin and caramel almond mocha."

Chloe relaxed. "Oh, I'm so predictable, am I? How's this rich boy, I'll take a lemon poppy seed muffin. And a caramel almond mocha."

Oliver grinned, reaching out a hand to towards her, but hesitating. When she doesn't pull back or slap his hand away, he tugs on her hair, rubbing the soft stands between his fingers as if he were unused to touching her. Chloe started to clue in realizing that she wasn't in a relationship with Oliver in this reality.

She pulls back slowly, her eyes locked on his. Oliver watched her careful withdrawal, grinning ruefully. "It was nice while it lasted." He turned to the barista and ordered a green tea and scone.

Chloe stayed standing by him waiting for him to place his order, which was apparently also weird, if she went off the look Oliver gave her. He led her over to two easy chairs in the corner, sitting down and looking at her speculatively. "You sure you're OK, Sidekick?"

She smiled. "Yeah, like I said, just a weird mood."

"Everything with Lois and Boy Scout OK?" Chloe nodded, processing the Oliver was still Green Arrow and Clark as still there.

The waitress brought them their order and they settled into a bantering conversation, not so unusual from what Chloe was used to, only with less touching, and more uncertainty on her side. "Ollie…"

His eyes snap to hers and she leans back in her chair, feeling as if she made a mistake. "You never call me Ollie." She blinks at him, unsure what to say. "It's always Oliver with you, or maybe…" he tips his head to the side, hinting at 'Green Arrow" she's sure. "But never Ollie. What happened to your damned stubborn insistence that we keep things strictly professional?"

Chloe stared back at him blankly. "I…"

He smirks at her, his excitement showing clearly on his face and he leaned closer to her, and took one of her hands in both of his. "Am I finally wearing you down Sidekick?" he asked teasingly, but with a serious look in his eyes.

Chloe swallowed hard. "Maybe," she said softly.

"Ha!" he exclaims, giving her hand a squeeze. "I knew if I kept showing up here, you'd eventually start to associate me with your favorite things."

She smiles at him, her eyes full of emotion. "Maybe you're one of my favorite things."

"If that's true then you might have said yes to at least one of my date requests."

"Have you asked recently?" she flirted back automatically.

Oliver raised one eyebrow, cocking his head to the side while regarding her seriously. "Have dinner with me Chloe. A real meal at a nice restaurant. No more of me surprising you in your office with take out, and you giving in just because you're hungry."

"Ollie…"

"I know you're trying to prove otherwise, but you can't exist on sugar and caffeine alone," he teased, easing the tension if she said no.

"Tomorrow?" she offered with a smile.

"Tonight. I'm not letting you out of my sight until we get over this first date phobia you seem to have. I know that you've had some rough relationships, expecially with Clark." Chloe felt her eyes bug out of her head. "But you were the one to end it, and you were right. What worked in high school, wasn't working for you anymore, Chloe. I'm sorry he was an ass when you ended it, but you two have managed to become friends again," Oliver was spilling all kinds of details that Chloe was trying to keep up with as he hustled her towards the door.

Chloe blinked at Oliver stupidly, trying to get her brain moving again. "Clark?" Chloe inquired with wide eyes. "What about Lana?"

"Lana?" Oliver asks in clear bafflement. "What about her? Not that I don't have a soft spot for your friend. She is the reason we met after all."

Chloe tried to keep up with Oliver's scattered recounting of their history as well as his steps as they walked briskly down the sidewalk. "Although you could say it was Jason that got us together."

"Jason?" Chloe tried to stop herself, she couldn't keep parroting things back at Oliver and not have him get suspicious again.

"Yeah, I ran into Jason at a fundraiser. He was escorting his mother. I've told you this."

Chloe takes a shot in the dark, "A fundraiser for Dark Thursday?"

"Yeah. Jason and I got together after that and Lana showed up. She talked so much about Smallville I had to see it."

"And meet Martha," Chloe said, as the differing realities seemed to still have some common points.

"Senator Kent, the water tower, a lot of cows, and finally my Smallville tour ended at the Talon, where I met you," Oliver recapped. He looks mournful for a moment, before his natural smirk peaked through. "Unfortunately for me, you were still dating Clark at the time."

Chloe tried to understand how in this world she'd dated Clark in high school and into college. "You two had quite the bond. I admit I was jealous for awhile, until I figured out we were all in the same little club."

"Club," she said slowly. "But it was hard to be sure, who was in or out because it's anonymous," she filled in the blanks.

"Not for long, you blew my anonymity the first time you saw me," he says with pride.

"Well…You have to admit, you do make an impression," she said lightly.

"First coffee, not rejecting every move I make, agreeing to dinner and now flattery? What happened to put you in this 'mood' Chloe? I need to know so I can make sure it's repeated as often as possible."

She looked at him with teasing scorn. "As if your ego needs flattering. And if I did make you work for my affection, then you should just enjoy it as a novel experience."

Oliver laughed. "Clark was a fool to let you get away."

Chloe wondered briefly at how her relationship with Clark had ended, but doesn't dwell. No matter the reality, Chloe Sullivan was long over Clark Kent.

Chloe enjoyed dinner with Oliver, whatever pressure a first date put on things was lost in the fact that she had already moved so far past that stage with Oliver in her own reality. It did make her realize that she'd never dated her Oliver, never gone through this part of a relationship. They'd gone straight from friends to lovers with some scattered moment of sexual tension to bridge the gap.

Later that night, Chloe sat at a antique desk in her airy apartment. A very expensive apartment from the look of it. Fortunately Oliver had brought her home and picked the lock to let her in when she failed to produce her keys. Chloe had had to do some quick thinking to explain how she didn't have her keys for work or home. Luckily Oliver's suspicions began and ended with her being mugged and trying to hide it from him. Chloe had worked hard to convince him that there were other reasons why she would be without keys, purse, wallet, and ID. Luckily he seemed to accept her farfetched explanations with some skepticism but also humor.

Chloe booted up her laptop and contemplates the reality she found herself in. Oliver had kissed her goodnight, moving in slowly, giving her ample opportunity to stop him. She hadn't. It had been difficult to let him go. But clearly asking him to stay the night would have been out of character for this reality's Chloe.

Chloe's fingers flew over the keys absently, anxious about what the internet search would reveal. Whether Dr. Swann had kept his word or not, Oliver clearly knew the Teagues. A few minutes later she knew that she'd failed again. And while it had never been proven, Lionel could well be responsible for both of Oliver's parents deaths.

Robert Queen had died in 1992 from anaphylactic shock. He had been allergic to peanuts, an allergy he'd passed on to his son. Despite a lifetime of knowing what to ask and what not to eat, somehow he'd been exposed to peanuts and despite having an epi pen and a doctor there within seconds, Robert Queen had died, leaving behind a twelve year old son and a grieving wife.

Seven years later, just as Oliver was about to leave his teen years, his mother died in the hospital after being severely beaten in a mugging. The assailant was caught soon after and had tried to cut a plea bargain, saying that he had been hired to kill Laura Queen, but he had been killed in lockup before he'd revealed who had hired him.

Two years after that loss, Oliver graduated from Harvard with a degree in business and taken over Queen Industries. In another two years, the Green Arrow had started making headlines in Star City. Somehow without the island or Vordigan, Oliver had still become an expert archer and a hero.

Like in Chloe's timeline, Oliver had come to Metropolis after Dark Thursday, and apparently met Lana then Chloe. When Lex had fired Chloe from the Daily Planet not long after, Oliver had hired her as an Special Projects Coordinator.

The next morning, when Oliver showed up at her door with a steaming cup of coffee to walk with her to work, Chloe wondered for a moment if it was good enough. Oliver had had years more with his parents. Was it enough? The question stayed forefront in her mind throughout the day.

Chloe wasn't sure what she would have decided but at 4:14 that afternoon, an explosion tore through the boardroom of Queen Industries' Metropolis offices, six floors up from Chloe's office.

Chloe stood on the street looking up at the gaping hole in the tower, smoke billowing out still. A cold numbness filled her as one after another Queen Industries employee were evacuated from the building, but not Oliver. Finally, Clark arrived and within minutes, the last of the survivors from the board room were brought outside.

News that Oliver was unconscious but alive, was all Chloe could get from the hospital when she arrived. It was touch and go for the next 18 hours, as the doctors treated burns over 30 percent of his body and crush injuries associated with the collapse of the building. Chloe stayed at his side, watching in horror as Oliver suffered.

Five days later days later the prognosis was set. Oliver Queen would live, but he would be horribly scarred, for years if not for the rest of his life, and he would never walk again. The force of the explosion had thrown him against a steel girder and severed his spinal cord.

The only clue to who might have been responsible was a small burned piece of a toy monkey.

Chloe sat in despair. She had to go back, had to undo what she'd done. But she couldn't. The world she'd spent 21 years in no longer existed. She'd jumped through time, creating new outcomes, and she didn't know how to fix what she'd done.

_-If we could travel into the past, it's mind-boggling what would be possible. For one thing, history would become an experimental science, which it certainly isn't today. The possible insights into our own past and nature and origins would be dazzling. For another, we would be facing the deep paradoxes of interfering with the scheme of causality that has led to our own time and ourselves. I have no idea whether it's possible, but it's certainly worth exploring. CARL SAGAN-_

* * *

_-For those starting to get confused like me, the 1__st__ reality is the one from SV. The 2__nd__ had Lionel starting LuthorCorp a few years later and staying involved in organized crime, leading to a higher body count than the 1__st__ timeline, including the Queens. A few more attempts to stop Lionel 3__rd__ and 4__th__ led to Lionel still starting LuthorCorp, but with a later start (and without Morgan Edge). Chloe's visit to Dr. Swann was her 6__th__ foray into the past._

_I'm attempting to write in past tense and it's new to me and hard to remember to do. (It's kind of appropriate, no? Writing a time travel fic in the past tense…)_


	5. Ch5: Until It's Gone

_AN-_ _Chloe's going to have to get creative with how she undoes what's been done. But- she's adrift now, her past has been so radically changed that she has much less to lose now, because it's already been lost._

_- Do not live for the tomorrow or yesterday because you will miss the very essence that is today.—_

**Ch. 5: You don't know what you have until it's gone**

Oliver sank into a deep depression and Chloe stayed by his side in the hospital even when he told her to go. Oliver's dark mood was familiar to Chloe, and she ignored his harsh words with some ease. Instead her thoughts were filled with how to fix what she'd done. She couldn't condemn Oliver to a life in a wheelchair, not when she had the ability to change it. But therein lay the problem. Each change she'd made had seemed to result in even worse outcomes.

What she wanted more than anything was to return to her time, to her Oliver and let him hold her until she forgot everything that had happened since she'd realized she could time travel. But that wasn't an option. Hot bitter tears slipped down Chloe's cheeks as she realized her Oliver was lost to her know. Unless she could stop her own actions. She couldn't go back to the past she'd shared with Oliver. Her tears dried as she considered another thought. She couldn't go back to her reality, but maybe she could go back one step. Her goal this time would be to stop herself.

CO—CO—CO

Chloe walked across a college campus. She was dressed casually in jeans and a t-shirt. The outfit was nondescript enough to pass in multiple decades. As she approached her destination she noticed a tall attractive guy standing at the door seemed to be staring at her. Nervousness filled her and Chloe's eyes searched the area for likely escape routes.

The guy keep staring at her and smiled. Chloe's eyebrows drew together as she paused, not feeling a treat from the guy. He walks towards her, his smile widening. "There you are. I wasn't sure you would show."

Chloe's eyes study his face. He looks young. About her age, probably still in college. His hair is shaggy and long as was the style in 1977, his jeans hanging low on his hips with a flare at the bottom. "Well, here I am."

"Yeah, right on. So this is for you." He hands her a piece of paper with her name on it, written in her hand writing. Chloe's heart skipped a beat.

"Right. Thanks," she says in puzzlement.

"You going in?" he nodded towards the lecture hall where Dr. Swann was about to begin his talk.

"I… I don't know," she said, her eyes drawn to the note in her hand, dying to read it.

"I'm getting together with some friends at Pete's Pizza, if you want to come," he offered.

Chloe's eyes snap to his clearly admiring gaze. "Oh. Um… I think I… I have something I need to do."

"Too bad. Another time?" he offered with a smile.

Chloe can't help but smile. "Another time. Anything is possible," she chuckled.

As he walked away Chloe opened the note to read, "Do not talk to Dr. Swann, go back to your own time and find another way," written in her own writing.

Chloe rushed away, wondering what had happened that was so bad that she would leave a note for herself in the past.

Finding a safe spot to "jump" Chloe's mind is full of thoughts of her own time and Oliver. His beloved face is strongly in her mind as she jumps back to 2009.

Chloe opened her eyes to find herself in the middle of Oliver's Clock Tower. She looked around in shock. She'd been at Yale, now she was in Metropolis. She'd not only traveled through time, but also space. Chloe spun as she heard the elevator arrive and the grate slid back.

Oliver emerged and Chloe stared at him with eyes full of love. "Chloe? I wasn't expecting you…" He breaks off as Chloe throws herself into his arms. "Chloe, you are starting to freak me out."

"I just love you Oliver. So much," she said breathily.

"I love you too, and I'm never going to get tired of hearing that, but I think you need to tell me what's going on Chloe." She shakes her head and opens her mouth, but he laid his fingers over her soft lips. "No lies, Chloe. Not anymore. The truth. You and me."

She looked up at him, clearly conflicted. "I want to, I want to tell you, but I know, I know I can't…"

"You can," he said adamantly.

"No, I can't. It's too much. Please. Please just believe me. I love you and I'm doing this for you. For all of us."

Oliver stared down at her "Not good enough Sidekick."

She bit her lip staring up at him, hating the disappointed look in his eyes. "I… I have a new power. And it doesn't hurt me, and it's not dangerous, just… just give me some time to deal with it, let me figure it out then we can talk," she begged.

Oliver's alarm fades as he took in Chloe's pleading face, her emotions playing across her face. "I don't like it. I don't like it at all, but if you promise me you're not in any danger, I can wait." He hugged her to his chest. "I need you to be careful Chloe. I need you to be safe. I can't imagine my life without you anymore, so I'm going to need you to be here, safe and sound. Everyday."

Chloe's heart clenched again and she looked up at him, through tear blurred vision. "I want to be with you too."

"Promise me," Oliver demanded.

Chloe stared up at him, hoping he couldn't see the lie in her face. "I promise."

CO—CO—CO

Deciding that she needed a little break, Chloe decided to stay for a few days, enjoying her time with Oliver and figuring out her next step. This reality wasn't hers, but it was close. And this Oliver was hers. Just as passionate, handsome, dedicated, and pushy as the Oliver she'd known.

Which was how she found herself standing in a sea of boxes in the Talon apartment.

"I can't believe you're really moving out, and I really can't believe that you're moving in with Ollie. How come you get the luxury penthouse apartment in the city, when my only prospect is a farm house surrounded by decades of cow shit?" Lois complained.

"You love the Kent farm," Chloe deflected Lois's ire.

"Yeah but…"

"And you love Clark," Chloe said lightly.

"Hey now. No throwing around the L word. Just 'cause you and Ollie can't stop saying it, doesn't mean the rest of us are ready to jump on the crazy train," Lois said with wide freaked out eyes.

"Uh, OK. So you're Ok with feeling it, but not saying it?" Chloe teased her cousin.

"Hold up there short-stuff. Who said I feel anything? Maybe I just like jumping the farm boy's bones. Ever think of that? And while we're on the subject, don't think that I don't know that that's the real reason you're moving in with Ollie."

Chloe shook her head as Lois rants, smiling at Oliver as he entered the apartment again. "Why is she moving in with me?" he questioned with a smile.

"Sex. Endless amounts of sex. You know it, I know it, even Chloe knows it. You're moving her in so you two can sex it up anytime of the day or night," Lois said gleefully.

Oliver smiled slowly at Chloe, causing her heart rate to increase at the heat in his gaze. Lois smirked.

CO—CO—CO

Chloe and Oliver spend the weekend in bed, instead of unpacking boxes, proving Lois to be somewhat right. On Monday, Oliver was reluctant to leave Chloe, still sleepy and naked in their bed, but he was unable to push off reality any longer.

"Remember your promise Sidekick," he said gently. "You, here, with me, safe and sound."

"That's the plan," she said softly, feeling sorrow as she realized that once again she would risk losing Oliver as she went to the past. "I love you Ollie. Never doubt that. I love you more than I've ever loved anyone."

Oliver was late for work that day.

CO—CO—CO

Chloe decided to go directly to the event she wanted to change. She wanted so much to help her own mother, but it still made sense to her to change the events farther back in time until she fixed what she wanted there (to save the Queens), then if it worked out and resulted in a better reality, she could move forward, fixing things that should cause smaller ripples in the larger scheme of things. Like helping her own mother.

She jumped back to October 13, 1989, to Star City. Not having to travel there from Metropolis the usual way was definitely going to save her some time.

Chloe paused to think about all the things she could see, all the events she could be there for. The Berlin Wall coming down, the moon landing. She could do so many things, effect the whole history of the world, but she didn't trust that it would work out better. Maybe she could stop a war, a massacre, give advance warning of a natural disaster, but if what she'd seen so far held up, she risked a much worst reality taking its place.

She determined that she was better off trying to change smaller things. Slowing Lionel down. Saving the Queens. Keeping her family together. Chloe watched and waited, jumping back to October 13th several times until she was sure she know who sabotaged the plane and how.

On her third time living through October 14th, 1989 Chloe watched as the Queens were led to safety by an FBI team. A credible and very detailed tip had been called into the Star City FBI, explaining how Lionel Luthor had bribed a maintenance worker at Start City International Airport to disable the safety systems on the Queen's private jet and plant a bomb on the plane.

The FBI had found the bomb exactly where the tip had said it would be, and found the payoff to the maintenance worker, but no trail back to Lionel Luthor. Chloe felt the disappointment of Lionel getting away with another crime, but at least the Queens were alive.

CO-CO-CO

Returning to 2009 and Metropolis, Chloe took a deep breath as she walked down the street towards the Clock Tower. As she got closer, her heart began to pound. She didn't see the QI insignia on the door. She slowed as she walked past, seeing that an art gallery had taken over the first floor space. The strangled look of fear and grief on Chloe's face sparked concern in one of the passers-by, who stopped to inquire if she was in need of assistance.

Chloe felt a large lump in her throat as a cold hand seemingly closed around her heart. "No, thank you. I just… something reminded me of an old friend," she barely got out before hurrying down the street to the familiar Metro Café . Chloe orders a almond mocha with shaking hands.

The cashier looks at her in askance. "You sure you need the caffeine?"

"I'm sure."

_-I stood still, vision blurring, and in that moment, I heard my heart break. It was a small, clean sound, like the snapping of a flower's stem. Diana Gabaldon, Dragonfly in Amber-_

Taking the coffee Chloe pulls out her smart phone and does a quick internet search for "Oliver Queen." Her eyes fly over the search results, each proclaiming a different headline.

"**Billionaire Oliver Queen Opts Out of CEO Duties to Pursue K2 Climb"  
**_Known most for his partying and numerous rendezvous with the most beautiful women in the world, Oliver Queen is also an known thrill junkie. He has undertaken base jumping, hang gliding, mountain climbing, race car driving, and now a trek up K2… _

"**Oliver Queen arrested for DUI"  
**_Oliver Queen, might just be the epitome of poor little rich boy. Since his parents murders when he was just 15 years old, Oliver Queen has put his money to work supplying himself with a high octane lifestyle. A sizable amount of his inheritance has also gone to the lawyers who make his legal troubles disappear… _

"**Oliver Queen Survives Trek Up Most Dangerous Mountain in the World"  
**_Annapurna is the tenth highest mountain in the world, but statistically it's the most dangerous of the 8,000 meter peaks. Since the first successful ascent in 1950, 53 people have died trying to climb it. Oliver Queen is the 143 person to do so and live. The young billionaire who lost his parents so tragically in car bomb while visiting Israel…_

"**Billionaire heir to Queen Fortune Dead at 23"**  
_Oliver Queen lived fast and died young. The billionaire heir to Queen Industries, a company founded by his father, Robert Queen, died yesterday after attempting to base jump off Angel Falls, the highest waterfall in the world. The renowned ladies man was in Venezuela with his model girlfriend… Queen's parents survived a plane crash as well as a kidnapping attempt, but died in a roadside car bomb while on a Mideast peace keeping trip. No group ever claimed responsibility for their deaths, but experts in terrorism laid blame on a ultra-violent faction inside of Hamas. The blame for their son's death is much more ordinary. Veteran base jumper and a friend of Queen's comments, "The conditions were perfect, but a few seconds after he jumped the wind shifted."_

Chloe looked blankly at her phone's screen, unable to believe that she was in a world where Oliver was dead, a world where she'd never met him, probably never given him a second thought. Chloe felt a now familiar numb disbelief seep into her bones.

The facts were cold and logical. She'd saved the Queens in 1989, only to have them die six years later in a car bomb while on a peacekeeping mission in the middle east. Nine year old Oliver had had difficulty with his parents death's, but 15 year old Oliver had apparently never recovered any sense of equilibrium or normalcy. Or maybe he'd just died before he'd had a chance to become the man Chloe knew.

Chloe tried to push back her grief, tried to calm her emotions enough to be comforted by the fact that she could go back, she could try again, she hadn't really lost him. Chloe began to face the fact that if she saved the Queens and Oliver went on to live a happy life that didn't involve heroes, that Chloe could face living the rest of her life without him. She pushed the thought back, her emotions too raw to deal with that thought at the moment.

Too emotionally exhausted to contemplate her next move, Chloe slumped back into her chair. Sipping her coffee and trying not to cry as memories with Oliver flash through her mind.

A few minutes later, Chloe became aware that people are staring in her direction. She looked up in alarm as she saw a black suited man standing over her in an aggressive manner. Searching the café quickly she sees another man in a black suit at the door and another at the entrance to the hallway that lead to the bathrooms and the back door. She was trapped.

"Ms. Sullivan. Do we really have to do this again?" the man before her asked in a weary, exasperated tone that was contra-indicative of his professional, stiff posture and appearance.

"Apparently," she replied dryly.

"Can we please move to a secure location now?" Chloe blinked at him stupidly, realizing that she was also tired of not knowing what her role was in any given situation. Her mind scrambled to process this situation. They weren't arresting her. Weren't threatening her. Weren't dragging her out or even demanding that she leave. The man had asked if they could move. She suddenly realized that they were guards.

She stood up. "Sure, why not?" It's not like she was going to stay in this reality, she could just jump out when and if she needed to, once she erased this reality it wouldn't matter what anyone had seen.

The guards led her outside to a black town car, the guard who'd approached her inside opening the door for her and sliding in beside her in the back seat as the other two get into another identical car behind them.

Chloe frowns in disbelief as they arrive at their destination: Lex's Metropolis penthouse. "You have got to be fucking kidding me," she grumbled. The guard ignored her as they rode up the elevator to the top floor.

Chloe waited for the guard to open the door and escort her inside, but he merely took up a position in the foyer. Chloe shrugged and entered the penthouse, flinging the door open and letting it bounce off the wall. "Honey, I'm home," she called out with clear annoyance.

Seeing a bar in the back of the sitting room she was in, Chloe crossed to it to pour herself a drink. Hearing footsteps she turned to face Lex Luthor. "Would it kill you to stock some mixers? Not everyone has the pallet to enjoy a 50 year old scotch. Sometimes a girl just wants a margarita. Or a Manhattan or a Cape Cod. Or any drink named after an east coast location."

Lex stared at her blandly, approaching her and opening the bar cabinet, handing her a bottle of cranberry juice silently. Chloe frowns. "Thanks."

Lex waited while Chloe mixed the vodka and cranberry juice together in a new cup, accepting the glass of scotch that she thrust into his hand.

"I know this time of year is difficult for you Chloe. The loss of your father and Clark." Lex began in a lecturing tone.

"Could this reality get any worse?" she mumbled.

Lex gave her a look that indicated that he had limited patience for her antics. "I get it. But you can't slip away from your security again."

She gave him a stiff smile. "Apparently I can, as evidenced by this afternoon."

Lex reached out to cup his hands around her shoulders, turning her to face him. "I thought we had a deal? I would reduce your security detail as much as could be done safely, and you would stop giving Lionel's hit man the opportunity to get to you."

Chloe stared at Lex, trying to once again piece together the situation. The Lex before her reminded her of Lex from when she'd been in hiding waiting to testify at Lionel's trial.

Chloe's silence exasperated Lex, who shook her lightly. "Lionel may be dead, but you know that there is at least one more hitman out there with a contract for your life." Chloe didn't have time to feel any joy at the fact that Lionel was finally dead, because Lex continued. "Is this about us?" Chloe's drew back in shock. "Marrying you isn't a business decision for me Chloe." Her mouth fell open. "I admit it will help with business. Having had you living with me since you were just 16 doesn't play well with the public or with the men I need to make deals with, but I shouldn't have brought that up when I proposed to you."

"What?" Chloe squeaked.

"We've been together for three years. I'm in love with you. I don't see that changing anytime soon. But if you're not ready… I guess I can wait. But I won't let you leave me."

Chloe stared at Lex with doubt, completely flummoxed that Lex Luthor had just declared his love for her. This reality's Chloe and Lex had been living together for five years, had been in a relationship for three of those years.

"You won't _let_ me leave?" Chloe argues to buy some time.

He gives her a stony look. "Understand me Chloe. I will keep you safe, whether you like it or not. We're getting closer to identifying this man. Everything indicates that this is the last one. Once you can live safely without security…" his jaw tightens, "you will be free to leave."

"Really?"

He smirked at her and Chloe remembered how her 16 year old self had found Lex to be sexy, but too dangerous and complicated and too much older to be a real viable option. "I would try my best to convince you otherwise, of course." He moved closer to her and Chloe watched him with wide eyes, feeling the seductive spell that Lex wove, settle over her like pixie dust. "Send you flowers, take you to your favorite Italian restaurants. Take you to bed for hours on end," he continued as he pressed soft kisses to her cheek moving down her neck. "And if that didn't work, I'd steal you away to our house on Pine Cay."

Chloe tried to step back, but was already backed into the bar. "Oh, really…"

"If you're interested I could steal you away now… just you and me. Sun, sand, private beach, no other living sole on the island…"

If Chloe had loved Lex, or even liked him, his offer would have tempted her. The idea of a private island sounded pretty good at the moment. When Chloe got back to Oliver she promised herself that she would take him up on his next offer to vacation in some remote exotic location. "Lex…" she said, her answer easily heard in her voice.

"Don't say no yet, Chloe," he said softly in her ear, before turning her head to his and kissing her deeply. Chloe stiffened and pushed her hands against his chest, as surprisingly soft lips moved over hers persuasively.

She finally managed to get some space between their bodies. "Lex, I'm going to need to think about this." He smiled and leaned down to kiss her again, but she turns her head. "All of this."

"I understand. Just promise me that you'll talk to me before you make a decision."

Chloe couldn't understand this world. This Lex. He seemed sincere. Invested in her staying with him. He seemed to genuinely care about her.

Chloe slipped past him, wandering down the hallway to where she thought the bedrooms might be. She opened a few doors before finding what was clearly Lex's bedroom, a closer look revealed items of hers in the room as well. Chloe kept going, finding a room that was decorated in much brighter colors, with more casual furniture. An orange laptop sat on a the desk. Chloe entered and closed the door behind her. She sank into a soft overstuffed easy chair, her head reeling from the day she'd had.

She knew she should leap back, stop herself from making the last change, but she was curious. What had happened between her and Lex? What had happened to her father and Clark?

Another internet search revealed much of what Lex had hinted at. Chloe and her father had died a few months after the safe house blew up. Lex had uncovered a financial trail that indicated that Lionel had hired a hitman through an intermediary to kill both Chloe and Gabe.

Lex had moved Chloe into the mansion, had hired a security detail to keep her alive. After the trial, at which Lionel was found guilty, Lex had kept Chloe with him, kept her safe. The media had a field day, coming up with the most depraved stories about their relationship.

Clark had never returned from his training with Jor-El. For all the world knew, Clark Kent had simply disappeared. Lex had hired a private investigator to find him, but the trail was cold. Chloe knew why. A flying alien didn't leave a paper trail.

A year later Lionel had died in prison, but not before another three attempts had been made on Chloe's life. Lex hadn't stopped Chloe from attending Met U., but her security followed her on campus and everywhere else she went.

Sometime during her freshman year in college she'd apparently started a romantic relationship with Lex. There were hundreds of pictures of them out on dates and at events: smiling, dancing, and flirting.

Chloe couldn't have ever imagined this reality playing out back then, but here she was. But not for long.

CO-CO-CO

_-People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but *actually* from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint - it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly... time-y wimey... stuff. Steven Moffat-_

Chloe jumped back to 1989 and left herself a note in the spot she'd hidden in to spy on the maintenance person who'd planted the bomb on the Queens' plane.

Landing back in 2009 after two aborted missions to the past with no idea of what had gone wrong either time Chloe decided to take a few days to just be. She needed to regroup, and see if she could come up with a better plan.

When Oliver arrived home that night, Chloe was waiting for him in a short green silk dress and fuck me heels. "Here I am, safe, sound and yours for the taking."

* * *

_Words 4110_

_Alrighty, I think Chloe has had enough bad luck. She's due a good trip soon._

_-For those starting to get confused like me, the 1__st__ reality is the one from SV. The 2__nd__ had Lionel starting LuthorCorp a few years later and staying involved in organized crime, leading to a higher body count than the 1__st__ timeline, including the Queens. A few more attempts to stop Lionel 3__rd__ and 4__th__ led to Lionel still starting LuthorCorp, but with a later start (and without Morgan Edge). Chloe's visit to Dr. Swann was her 6__th__ foray into the past. 7__th__ is going back to stop herself from talking to Dr. Swann. 8__th__ is stopping the Queens from getting on the plane (and ending up with Oliver dead at 23, and Chloe in a long term relationship with Lex)_


	6. Ch6: The Power of Determination

Summary: _Set somewhere in S9 when the Kandorian thing wasn't going crazy. Every time Future-Brainiac comes back to the past the AI syncs with any remnants of his old self in that time. When he makes a trip to 2009 the two individuals on the plant who had been effected by Brainiac before and retained some of his Artificial Intelligence gain the ability to time travel. Kara and Chloe both decide that the ability to go back in time to save the ones they love most is too good an opportunity to waste, despite Clark's reservations about time travel._

Disclaimer: Clearly not mine. I barely even know anything about Smallville so it couldn't have come from me.

**If I could turn back time**

_- Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and take a look around once in a while, you could miss it.—_

**Ch. 6: The Power of Determination**

Chloe spent a few days in 2009, considering how to proceed and just enjoying Oliver. Living with him, spending each night with him, and waking up each morning to his touch was heaven. And hell. It was perfect, they were definitely in the honeymoon period, and Chloe knew that each day could be her last with him. She wasn't sure she could do it. Wasn't sure she had the strength to leave him. Lose him.

She'd felt his loss in the past. Knew what it would feel like to be without him. She seriously considered staying in here and now.

She'd tried. No one could fault her for that. She'd had small successes, slowed down Lionel and LuthorCorp. But she'd had spectacular failures too, and didn't even know how badly two of her trips had gone, since her future self had stopped her from repeating that course of action. She rubbed her forehead, trying to relieve her aching head. The possibilities of time travel hurt her head. The possibility of losing Oliver hurt her heart.

She might have decided to stay, to go back only to fix smaller things, try to improve their reality bit by bit. But Oliver came home one night a few days later in a quiet mood. "Ollie, are you sure nothing is bothering you? You can talk to me." Chloe tried to get him to open up.

"It's nothing, Sidekick," he denied.

Chloe didn't believe him, but neither did she want to hound him. They sat down on the couch with the TV on in the background, and Chloe let Oliver divert her attention with a story about his most recent success against LuthorCorp, and how he'd taken a deal out from under Lex's nose.

The sound of Oliver's parents' names from the TV captures Chloe's attention and she turns her head towards the screen. A national news broadcaster introduces the story. "A breakthrough today at The Robert and Laura Queen Cancer Research Facility in Star City. Doctors have found a way to treat cancer through gene therapy. The revolutionary new treatment has entered its last phase of FDA approvals and is likely to be available to patients in the next two years. Laura Queen especially was a avid supporter of cancer research. Her father died when she was just a teen from stomach cancer and she campaigned tirelessly during her life to raise money for research and increase awareness with the public. Robert and Laura Queen died tragically in a plane crash twenty years ago leaving behind their only son and a legacy of philanthropy and generosity that has rarely been seen." The screen shows images of Oliver's parents at different events, with Oliver as a boy and a picture of the research facility in Star City with their names proudly displayed on the side of the building.

Chloe took a deep breath and turned to face Oliver. His broken expression told her everything she needed to know. He stared blankly at the TV for a minute then blinked and turned to face her, his face carefully controlled. "I wish you could have met them," he said softly.

Chloe nodded and pressed herself into his side, her mind made up.

"_Stop acting as if life is a rehearsal. Live this day as if it were your last.  
The past is over and gone. The future is not guaranteed." Wayne Dyer_

The next morning Oliver is surprised when Chloe asked him to take the day off work and spend it with her. He agreed, canceling his meetings for the day, but regarded Chloe warily. "Chloe, my patience is wearing thin, you're going to talk to me eventually, right?" he questioned her.

Chloe felt as if a hand was squeezing her heart cruelly, as she attempted to smile at him to alleviate his fears. "I will. Soon." Her voice wobbled, "I promise. Just trust me on this OK?"

"I do trust you, but I worry about you too."

"I know." She looked up at him with so much emotion visible in her expression that Oliver felt his own emotions respond. "I love you, Ollie. So, so much. I would do anything for you."

"Except, apparently, talk to me," he deadpanned. Chloe laughed, but it was a strangled sound. "I love you too Sidekick. We're in this for the long haul."

She hooked her elbow with his as they walked outside to the Clock Tower's deck to look out on the city under the clear sunshine of the day. "Is that so? What exactly do you see in our future?" she teased.

A large lump fills her throat as Oliver replied without hesitation, describing a future she knew they wouldn't have. Her trips to the past would change him, change the man he was, change his path, and possibly they would never meet in the life she gave him. He would never miss her, having never met her, but Chloe would know. She would know forever what she'd given up.

"Well, I figure we give living together a few months, then…" he gave her a emotive look, taking her left hand and squeezing it. "Then if you think you can still live with me by then we could discuss making it official." He smiled charmingly, and Chloe's heart fluttered madly. "A year or two later we can start working on what is bound to be an incredibly smart and attractive baby. In five years we're the typical American family with a house, 2.5 kids and a dog. We'll have to figure out how to make it work with our jobs, but I was hoping you'd be open to moving to Star City."

When Chloe just stared at him, Oliver smiled at her. "You still breathing Sidekick? Star City is optional, I guess we could travel back and forth, at least until the kids are in school. That will make it tougher, but…"

"It's fine Ollie. I know Star City is your home. It's where QI is headquartered." She smiled tremulously. "You and an ocean view? Who could resist?"

CO-CO-CO

"_Sacrificing your happiness for the happiness of the one you love, is by far, the truest type of love."_

The next day Chloe goes back to 1989 again, to stop Lionel. She'd given herself a pep talk that preventing the Queens' deaths wouldn't be a onetime thing. Lionel was determined, and so she had to be as well.

She'd stopped herself from going back to 1989 once before, so clearly the outcome hadn't been good. Chloe steeled herself to persevere. She'd save the Queens from the plane crash, and she'd hired an attorney to send tips over time to the FBI and SEC about Lionel's various illegal activities. If she could keep the pressure on Lionel, maybe he'd focus on who was attacking him instead of trying to get rid of the rest of the Veritas members who stood in his path to Clark.

Chloe paused to wonder about Kara, so far she hadn't seen any changes from Kara's efforts. The idea of not having Clark in her life was almost unimaginable to Chloe, but on the bright side, it would mean that Lionel didn't have a direct reason to kill the Queens, and that Chloe and her mother would never become meteor infected. And Clark would be home with his parents, where he had always belonged.

Four hours later Chloe leaps back into 2009 to find that The Queens had died six years later in 1995 when Oliver was 15. Chloe brushed back tears as she realized why she had stopped herself from stopping the Queens' murder in 1989. Oliver had died in 2003, in a accident. He'd never become a hero, never came to Metropolis. She'd never even met him. In a freakish turn of events Chloe found that she was rumored to be engaged to Lex Luthor in the new reality.

With no reason to hang around, Chloe steels herself to move forward in the timeline. She could go back to stop herself or she could continue on, saving Oliver's parents again. And again, as many times as needed until Lionel gave up. She trembled realizing that taking the trip to 1995 would effectively end her reality with Oliver at her side. "There's no going back," she encouraged herself. With a flash of green she is gone.

CO-CO-CO

"_The past is obdurate." Stephen King_

In 1995 Chloe finds that saving the Queens is getting harder. This time Lionel had sabotaged their yacht. The Queens were declared three days later after pieces of their yacht were found burned and floating 20 miles off the coast.

It takes Chloe a few days to figure out how Lionel did it and how to stop him. She wants to do more than just stop Oliver's parents' deaths. She wants Lionel to pay for his brutality. She wants him to get caught, stand trial and be convicted. She can't stick around long enough to make it all happen, but she can at least give the authorities a running start.

Once again Chloe leaps back to 2009 to find that Lionel had once again managed to escape charges for his actions. And once again the Queens were dead. And somehow despite the change in history, his parents dying when he was 20 rather than 9 years old, Oliver had become Green Arrow. Clark was still on Earth, Dark Thursday had still happened, Oliver had still come to Metropolis. And if the angry and worried messages on Chloe's phone were any indication, Chloe and Oliver were still in a relationship.

"_The present is never our goal: the past and present are our means: the future alone is our goal. __Thus, we never live but we hope to live; and always hoping to be happy, it is inevitable that we will never be so."__  
Blaise Pascal (French Mathematician, Philosopher and Physicist)_

Chloe cringed as she listened to the messages on her phone from Oliver. They'd started out as concerned, moving to worried, then angry, and then wavering between the two.

Chloe entered the Clock Tower loft to find Oliver on the phone as he worked furiously on his computer. As the grate slid open, Oliver's eyes didn't move from the computer. "AC is here, now…"

"Ollie," Chloe said softly.

His eyes snapped up. "Chloe."

His voice is hard and cold, and she stops realizing that the time has come to explain what she'd been doing.

"She just showed up Vic. Call off the calvary," Oliver spoke into the phone before hanging it up with deliberate control.

His eyes drifted down her body checking for injuries or signs of where she'd been, but he comes up blank. "You're OK?"

"Yes," her voice is still soft, her attention focused on the unnaturally cold expression on Oliver's face.

"Not injured?"

"No."

"Were you kidnapped? Because I know you weren't in jail or the hospital. I checked." There is a crack in the ice, but Chloe isn't sure his heated anger will be any easier to handle.

"No."

He walked into her space and clasps hard hands around her shoulders, squeezing her almost painfully. "Where were you?"

"Ollie…"

"Where were you?" he yelled.

Chloe felt all her tumultuous emotions finally come to a stop. She'd considered losing Oliver to a better life. She'd never considered facing his disappointed, coldly disapproving anger. He was looking at her the same way he had when he'd discovered that she'd been hiding Davis in the Talon's basement.

"I was…" she paused wondering how to tell him.

He shook her lightly. "Don't lie to me."

"I won't. I'm not. I just don't know how to say it," she blurted out.

"Don't think about it, don't try to figure out what I want to hear. Just tell me," he demanded.

"I went to Star City. To see your parents in 1989." Oliver's mouth fell open, all his anger erased by her unbelievable words. "Then again in 1995."

"You…" he broke off unable to formulate a sentence.

"Traveled back in time to save your parents from dying."

"That's your new ability? Time travel? And you went to 1989? Why? My parents died in 1998," Oliver said in confusion rubbing his fingers against his temple.

"In my timeline… the first timeline, Lionel killed your parents with a bomb on their plane in 1989, just before the meteor shower," she tried to explain watching Oliver's face as he tried to understand her explanation. "I went back to stop him… more than once now. Then he tried again in 1995. I managed to stop him again. And I'll keep trying until I succeed."

"Why would Lionel try to kill my parents… three times? What does he have to gain?"

Chloe frowned, unsure how to explain his parents' involvement in Veritas and Clark's history if he didn't already know. "They had a key that Lionel wanted."

"A key?"Oliver asked angrily. "They died for a key? A key to what?"

"A key that would give Lionel the ability to control Clark. Let me explain."

More than an hour later Chloe had managed to get through her story and their shifting pasts. She laid back against the couch cushion where she sat next to Oliver, his body turned towards hers. She watched Oliver carefully. "So you can travel back in time?" She nodded in affirmative. "And you've been going back to try to save my parents?" he asked tenderly.

"Yeah. I thought… I thought you deserved…"

"But that would change everything. If my parents were still alive… and you're saying they died when I was nine before?"

"Yeah."

"But… let me think. We were together before in each of the… timelines you've created?"

Chloe bit her lip. "Not all of them."

Oliver frowned. "But most of them. Chloe, I don't know what to say, it's amazing that you would try to do this for me. But going to the past, trusting a power you know nothing about, it's dangerous."

"It would be worth it. It _will_ be worth it," Chloe said adamantly.

"Or you could change things so much that I lose them and lose you too. Chloe you have to stop."

"No."

"I appreciate it, I can't wrap my head around it, but you gave me eleven more years with my family. That's… I can't tell you how amazing that is. Unbelievably amazing. But I want you to stop."

"No Ollie. I can do it, I can-"

"You can get yourself killed," Oliver argued. "Chloe I mean it, stop this. Stay here and now. Be with me. We can be happy. Promise me."

"I can't," she said with regret.

CO-CO-CO

"_You have to know the past to understand the present." Dr. Carl Sagan_

Chloe had done her best to explain why she couldn't, wouldn't give up on changing the past. She could shape a better future. She believed it with all her soul. He didn't back down in his demands, but she refused to promise him something she had no intention of doing. Or not doing.

"Ollie, I would never ask you to stop being Green Arrow, so you can't ask me to not use my ability, not when it could do so much good.

"Here's the difference. When I come back from a successful mission, I come back to you. If you're successful, we might never meet," he said ardently.

She stood up from the couch only to sit back down in his lap, pushing him back and leaning in to place a lingering kiss on his lips. His hands close over her hips, tugging her closer. "I love you Oliver, and I want us to be together. But I also want to save your parents, and my mother, and Jimmy. I love you, and I want a life with you more than I could ever put into words. But I have to do this." He opened his mouth to argue with her, but she shushed him with another kiss.

"No, no more arguing. I don't want to risk that the last memory I have with you is you being angry at me." Oliver looked like he wanted to continue the argument, but Chloe's pleading voice stops him. "Please."

Oliver gave in, but had no intention of letting the fight end there. Maybe he couldn't convince her now, but he didn't want to argue anymore either. Not when he had her in his arms now.

_-Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday. Was it worth it?—_

Chloe left 1998 with the knowledge that the Queens had dodged another bullet. This time literally. This time an unstable meteor infected person had shot the Queens to death outside the Children's Hospital Fundraiser. Chloe traced the shooter back to one of Lionel's facilities, but doesn't dwell on it. Lionel was slippery. Her efforts were better spent on protecting the Queens. Chloe also had the satisfaction of knowing that her FBI tips were paying off. Lionel had managed to avoid prosecution thus far, but once again she'd slowed down LuthorCorp's expansion. LuthorCorp was still a company to be reckoned with, but it was on longer the global powerhouse it had been in Chloe's past.

Chloe jumped back to 2009 hoping that this time she'd done it. She didn't trust herself to keep leaving Oliver, knowing each time could be the last. It was all too hard and as much as she believed in her plan, she didn't trust that her motivation would last forever if she didn't start seeing results soon.

Chloe held her breath as she approached the Clock Tower. No Queen Industries logo marked the door. The building appeared to be a bank. Chloe's heart stumbled and she took out her phone with a feelings of fear and regret swamping her. A familiar google search revealed that once again Lionel or fate had conspired against her. The Queens had died in 2001 from a rapid onset of a tropical fever. They hadn't been out of the country for months prior to their deaths.

Oliver was still alive, which allowed Chloe to breathe easier, but he'd never come to Metropolis. There were no mentions of the Green Arrow in the news. The only stories about Oliver Queen in the years since his parents' deaths involved him handing over the reins of his father's company to the board of directors, and Oliver's women and partying.

Chloe stumbled down the street blindly, feeing unsure of how to proceed. A few blocks down she finds a café and stops to get a cup of coffee. The familiar ritual and taste help to calm her down, but she still felt restless and anxious. Back on the sidewalks of Metropolis she wandered aimlessly, her mind curiously blank.

She is startled out of her stupor when she bumps into something and spills coffee over her arm and shirt. "Damn it!" she exclaimed as she shook the hot liquid from her arm feeling the slight burn.

"Sorry," a familiar voice drew her attention.

Her head jerked up. "Ollie?"

Oliver Queen looked down at the small blonde standing before him, coffee staining the lower part of her shirt. "Do I know you?" He smiled charmingly. "I'm sure I would remember if we'd met." Chloe's mouth opens but she doesn't know what to say, and can't seem to get a breath in. "Are you OK?" Oliver asked with concern.

"I… yeah… hot." She waived her hand at her stomach, grasping at the only available excuse for her odd reaction.

"Sorry about that. Let me make it up to you."

Chloe paused realizing that unless she was mistaken Oliver was flirting with her. "I think it will wash out if I get home soon."

He reached out a hand to her, "But that would mean our meeting is at an end." Chloe blinked up at him realizing that he was in fact flirting with her. "Let me buy you a new coffee. And we can get you out of your shirt."

"Excuse me," she laughed.

"I ruined your shirt, I should buy you a new one."

"Uh-huh," Chloe laughed.

CO-CO-CO

Sitting at patio table of a casual Italian restaurant, Chloe looks the this Oliver Queen. He looked just like her Oliver, only without the small scar under his eye. But he wasn't her Oliver. This Oliver was a hard partying playboy. He wasn't a hero, he didn't have a purpose. His life was one distraction after another. One empty experience after another. And if he had his way, Chloe would be his next distraction.

"I'm in Metropolis for three days. You should spend them with me."

"Is that it?" She questioned with curiosity.

"What?"

"That's it, that's your pitch. Your line."

Oliver smiled, but sat back in his chair, regarding her with more honest watchfulness than he had yet. "Yeah, I guess that's it."

"No pretense. I'll give you that. You offer me an affair in the same sentence that you tell me when it will be over."

"You're free to say no," Oliver said.

Chloe knew she should say no. Knew that even with what she knew about Oliver as a lover that any orgasms he gave her would not fill the empty feeling in her chest. He was not her Ollie. But he was the closest she was going to get, at least until she figured out how to stop Lionel once and for all.

"Yes."

"Yes?" Oliver seemed surprised.

"Why not. I've got nothing to lose. Nothing but time," Chloe said in a dark tone.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

AN- Sorry for the delay, but I've been writing out of order. I finally figured out the ending of this story, and have been writing chunks of later chapters.

Words 3589. I may have gone a little quote crazy in this story.


	7. Ch7: The Queens

AN-I'm imagining thatthe new character introduced in this chapter looks like a cross between Alona Tal and Ashley Bensen. Also while I'm not going to go into the whole intricacies of time travel, I did get a review that made me want to clarify that because Chloe is "out of time" when she effects the change in the past, she is able to remember her past, not the newly created past.

**Ch. 7: The Queens**

Chloe "landed" back in 2009 with a tight feeling in her chest. If this didn't work, she wasn't sure what she would do next. She exited the Metropolis alley she'd jumped back to onto a busy sidewalk across from a small city park. Chloe darted across the street and found an empty park bench in the dappled shade of a large tree. Chloe sat and took a few deep breaths, scared of any outcome that might have resulted.

If she'd learned one thing from her previous failures it was that a force equal to the one she was trying to stop was needed to change anything in the long term. She needed someone to knowledgably oppose Lionel. To stand against him. To know that they needed to continue to stand strong. Intervening in a moment in time wasn't enough. Every time Chloe had saved the Queens in 1989 they had just died later. Always under suspicious circumstances. She'd started this journey to give Oliver a better life. She'd failed each time, sending him down a worse path or not having any measurable effect.

Chloe had been going it alone. She'd set her own rules. Let no one in the past know who she was or where and when she was from. Stay in the past only long enough to do what she'd come for. Chloe had just broken her own rules. She need allies to stand with her against Lionel. It was a lesson she'd learned in her life, and one she shouldn't have forgotten.

Robert and Laura Queen were the force Chloe had decided to activate against Lionel. They had the most to gain. The most to lose. And though Chloe had never met them before, she knew their son. She felt that they could be trusted. Felt that given the knowledge of what they were up against they had a chance.

Chloe had had to jump back in time to stop herself several times. She wanted to go back to the original timeline- or as far back as she could. It was getting hard to keep it all straight. She'd gone back to 1998, then 1995, then 1989.

Instead of just saving the Queens, she's saved them and revealed herself to them. Told them only that her name was Chloe and that she was from the future. That Lionel Luthor meant to kill them and wouldn't stop trying. Somehow after revealing how much she knew about their family, lives, and Veritas, they had believed her. Chloe just hoped it was enough, because she was out of ideas.

"_The past is not dead. In fact, it's not even past." William Faulkner_

"Why are you doing this? We don't know you, why would you help us? Do you want money?" Robert Queen questioned Chloe, still reeling from her story.

"No. No money. You're good people. You could do so much more in the world. You don't deserve to die, and your son…" Chloe got chocked up. "You son deserves to grow up with his parents."

The mention of their son sparks a moment of women's intuition in Laura Queen's mind. "You're doing this for him, for Oliver. What year did you come from?" Laura asked, trying to determine how old Chloe was, and how old Oliver would be in her time. Sadness filled her soul as Laura realized that in the life Chloe had come from Oliver had grown up without them. He'd been alone. But then he'd met this young woman, who had loved him enough to journeyed back in time to try to change his past.

"It doesn't matter," Chloe denied, trying to keep them focused on why she was there, not who she was.

"Your name is Chloe? Chloe what?"

"Knowing who I am won't help you. Knowing what Lionel Luthor is capable of, knowing that he means to harm your family, that's what matters."

Robert's security team arrives to take over the scene. The Queens would leave before the FBI bomb squad arrived to dissemble the bomb. Robert could barely understand it. Lionel knew them, their son's played together, yet he'd still tried to kill them. For a key, for power. "We should go," Robert said forcefully. When Chloe took a step back, Robert grabbed her arm. "No you're coming with us."

"Sir," his head of security objected.

"No, I know I have more questions." Robert explained. Laura nodded and Chloe reluctantly agreed.

CO-CO-CO

"Do you believe in fate?" Laura Queen asked the young woman before her as they stood on the deck of Queen Manner over the majestic cliffs of Big Sur looking out over the expanse of the Pacific Ocean.

"I believe in choice. But I've seen enough to know that sometimes there are outcomes we can't change," Chloe said in a world weary tone well beyond her years.

"So you may have saved us today, but we may die in the near future," Laura says with fearful resignation.

"Maybe. But I'll do whatever I can to stop that from happening and you have to too. You can't give up, you have to fight for your lives."

"You must love him very much," Laura said with a soft smile. Chloe was confused by the statement. "My son. You must love him very much if you're willing to do this, knowing that anything you do could mean that you two never meet in the future."

"I know," Chloe said softly.

"You're willing to sacrifice your happiness for him?" Laura said sadly, feeling Chloe's sorrow.

"For him, for the greater good," Chloe said sadly.

"He must be a good man, no matter how he grew up without us, for you to be willing to do this."

Chloe smiled even as tears filled her eyes. "He is a good man. I can't tell you all the ways he's made you proud, but you would be proud of him."

"I have no doubt." Laura smiled, happy with the knowledge that her son grew up into a good man and that even if she and Robert died Oliver would not be alone. He would have Chloe. "You have to go," Laura stated.

Chloe nodded in agreement. "I wish I could get to know you better. Oliver… my Oliver never got to know you as an adult. It's… it was one of his biggest regrets."

"Will we see you again?" Laura asked as Chloe turned to leave.

Chloe looked up with a smile. "I have no idea. If this works, then hopefully not."

"Not for a long time hopefully, but someday," Laura said with a determined smile.

"Maybe someday," Chloe concurred.

Laura watched with fascination as the self-sacrificing woman from the future closed her eyes in intense concentration. With a disappearing spark of green light, she was gone.

A nine year old Oliver Queen runs up to his mother as she returns to the house from the lower cliff decks. "Mom! Where'd that lady go?" Oliver says with wide eyes.

"I'm not sure pumpkin," Laura replied, running her hand over her son's soft blonde hair.

Oliver wrinkled his nose at the nickname. "Aww, Mom. Did she leave already? She was pretty."

"You thought so, huh? How'd you see her?" Laura teased. "I thought I told you to stay in your room?"

Oliver smiled mischievously, ducking his head and looking up at her with his father's twinkling brown eyes. Laura laughed. "Oliver Queen, you can be very naughty, but I love you too much to ever change you."

Oliver grinned and hopping from foot to foot with all the irrepressible energy of young boys, asked his mother the obvious question, "Does that mean I'm not in trouble?"

Laura wrapped her arm around her only child, holding him close. "No it does not. You my love, are on dish duty tonight. But that doesn't mean I love you any less."

"Aww, Mom," Oliver complained.

"_Fear not for the future, weep not for the past." Percy Bysshe Shelley_

Sitting on the park bench in 2009, a slight breeze shifts the tree branches over her head, making the patches of shade and light dance over her skin. Chloe blew out one more deep breath and turned on her phone.

The white I-phone powered up quickly, but before Chloe could swipe her finger over the touch screen, the phone rang, the display revealing a number that was slightly familiar. Chloe decided to answer. "Hello?"

"May I speak to Chloe Sullivan, please?" an woman's voice asked with brisk politeness.

"Yes, this is Chloe."

"Oh good. I'm glad I caught you. The prospective student that you're showing around campus has arrived early," the woman sounded somewhat stressed. "The dean has asked that you come in now. As soon as possible."

"To… Met U," Chloe half asked, half stated.

"Yes, where else? Please Ms. Sullivan, if you could just come in now," the woman reiterated.

"I… sure. Remind me where I'm supposed to meet him-her?"

"Her," the woman said shortly. "I'll make this easy for you, I'll walk her over to the Met U's Free Press office. I assume you know where that is?"

"Yeah. See you soon, can't wait to meet you in person," Chloe said with sarcastic humor. She still felt emotionally strung out from her trip to 1989, and now she had to keep up appearances in 2009.

Chloe frowned as she got to her feet and rushed towards the street car that would take her to campus. Looked like it was time to jump into another unknown life.

Arriving at Met U ten minutes later, Chloe is surprised to see that the campus has been completely rebuilt, but is feeling light and relieved that the Queens were still alive. She'd gathered from the phone call and her Facebook page that she still attended Met U, and was living with Lois if the text asking her to pickup dish soap, toilet paper and a bottle of tequila was any indication. Another internet search revealed that Chloe was a junior at Met U and the editor of the school's news paper. Under Chloe's leadership the paper had won its first American University Press Award, the premier collegiate newspaper competition, with Chloe being nominated for the best editor.

Chloe smiled, happy that her life seemed to be on track despite the fact that she was currently running late for an appointment she had no idea about. Chloe figured she could handle a campus tour, even if the campus was pretty much a new landscape to her.

Chloe stumbled over a piece of uneven sidewalk as she quickly googled a campus map on her phone and saw that Dark Thursday had still happened, but in this reality the campus had been rebuilt much quicker. Chloe wanted to dive into an extensive internet search to find out more about the Queens- just knowing Oliver was alive was comforting, but not nearly enough.

She burst into the Free Press's office, appearing harried. A woman in a business suit and chignon looks at her with dissatisfaction, but forced a smile. "Ah. Here she is. Chloe Sullivan this is Alicia… just Alicia." The school official forced a smile. Chloe smiled back uncertainly.

"Nice to meet you Alicia," Chloe greeted the blonde girl standing beside the woman with a bright smile but tentative expression.

"Ali." She laughed self-consciously. "I mean, my name is Alicia, but I like to be called Ali."

"OK Ali. Would you like me to show you around the Free Press?" Chloe offered looking at the woman who was still standing awkwardly watching the girls' interaction.

"Yes," Ali said emphatically. "My school has a paper, but it's nothing like this. I mean, this feels like a real paper. Only smaller, I guess, right?"

"I like to think so," Chloe agreed, recalling her own thrill at earning a spot on the paper's staff her freshman year only to have Dark Thursday destroy her college plans. But apparently not here. Not now. Chloe looked around and noted that not much had changed. When the school official still didn't leave, Chloe shot an awkward look at Ali. "Oo-okay. I think we can take it from here." The woman flushed but turned to leave, pausing at the door to glare at Chloe and remind Ali that she could call anytime if she needed anything.

"Sorry about that," Chloe apologized. "And sorry I was late."

"No I was early, it's my fault," Ali rushed to speech. "I… caught an earlier flight." She shrugs and slumps awkwardly, her whole pose reminding Chloe how young she was.

Chloe smiled brightly. "Right, well maybe we should break the ice. I'm Chloe. A journalism major. I grew up here in Kansas. I was born here in the city but spent high school in a town not far from here, Smallville."

Ali's eyes widened. "That's where the meteor… sorry, I shouldn't bring it up."

"No that's OK. I was there for the second meteor shower. If you go to school here, you'll get used to it. People kinda get to a point where they take it in stride. Like Dark Thursday. So where are you from Ali?"

"Oh, um, California. I'm a senior this year. I want to go to Met U, but my parents want me to stay closer to home," Ali's words are guarded and filled with a self consciousness that Chloe can't quite understand. A pretty blonde with deep brown eyes and a svelte body, about Lois's height, Chloe can't imagine why she seems to have so little confidence.

"That's understandable. I'm sure whatever you decide will be great. I think I'm supposed to tell you how Met U is the best choice, but I think you're the best person to decide what college to attend." Ali gave Chloe a grateful look, and relaxed a bit. "You're here now, so let's get the tour started."

Chloe kept up a running commentary, as they tour the campus, trying to put the girl at ease.

A few guys came up to Chloe, greeting her by name, causing Chloe to frown and look confused. Ali blushed when the guys turned their attention to her, and Chloe brushed the guys off easily. "Maybe we'll see you tonight Chloe? Bring your friend," one of the guys flirted.

"Right," Chloe deflects, not committing either way.

Ali looked both interested and overwhelmed. "That could be fun."

"Hmm, I'm pretty sure you're underage," Chloe said with a smile meant to keep the girl at ease. Ali sighed deeply, the universal sound of a teenager being held back from a desired adventure. Chloe laughed. "Come on, we can still get you into the campus pub."

Just before ten at night, Chloe and her charge exit a cab in front of Ali's hotel. Chloe looked up at the Four Season's façade dubiously, getting the final confirmation she needed that Ali was some rich kid from California, probably with a famous parent.

"Do you want to come up? It's not too late…" Ali invited, then smiled hopefully. "I've never really stayed alone in a hotel before."

Chloe nodded, entering the hotel noting the black car that pulled in behind them at the curb. A guy in the lobby also seems too familiar, and Chloe realized that he had sat at a table near the girls in the pub earlier. "Hey, um, Ali… not to pry, but are the guys following us your security, or do we have a problem?"

Ali blushed deeply, ducking her head down. "Sorry," she apologized again. "I should have said, but we were having fun… I was having fun, and you've been so cool, treating me like I was just normal… sorry."

"Hey, it's OK. Really. As long as I'm not about to have to fend off your would be kidnappers, we're all good."

Ali let loose a relieved laugh. "Thanks for being so nice to me, Chloe."

"No problem, you're pretty easy to be nice to Ali… mysterious last name unknown," Chloe laughed as Ali flushed again. "I'm kidding. Don't worry about it. But there is a secret you have to tell me. Can you really order anything from room service here? Like if I wanted cotton candy, they'd whip some up?"

Ali laughed delightedly. "I don't really know, but let's find out."

"Maybe a fried Snickers bar. Can you fry coffee? We should ask."

Ali looks horrified.

"Hey, I love coffee and people say everything is better fried," Chloe said with a laugh.

CO-CO-CO

As nine year old Oliver Queen washed dishes with a glum expression and more splashing and noise than was necessary, Laura turned to her husband from their position at the kitchen door, observing their son. "Robert, what do you think about trying to have another child?"

Robert Queen stared at his wife in shock. They had tried to have a second child a few years after Oliver arrived, but after several miscarriages had abandoned the idea. They'd spoken casually about adopting, but neither had ever tried to set that in motion. "You want to try again?"

"I think it would be nice for Oliver to have a sibling," Laura said lightly.

Robert's mind raced. Now that they knew Lionel Luthor wanted them dead they would know to be more vigilant in their security, but in the case that they did die, a second child would give Oliver a family of his own, but it would also mean that they would leave two children orphaned. "I think we should talk about it."

"Then let's talk."

CO-CO-CO

The next day after Oliver returned to school, Laura sat down at her desk, in her private study. She pulled out several pieces of parchment and a beautiful silver pen. "Dear Oliver," she wrote. "There is so much I want to tell you, so many lessons to teach and things we have yet to learn from each other. I want more than anything to be there with you for all the days of your life, but I realize that that may not be a luxury afforded to us."

"I love you so much, I could not possibly put it into words. You are the most precious thing in the world to me, even when you are misbehaving. I write this while you are still a child, but I write it to the man you will become. On the chance that I do not live to see you grow into the wonderful man I know you will be, I wanted to be able to share a bit of myself with you, even if it is limited to pen and paper."

She continued writing, letter after letter, leaving different instructions for each to be delivered to Oliver at varying ages.

"I have it on good authority that you will be quite a handful as a man and a sneaking suspicion that you will be quite popular with the ladies. I'm smiling as I write this, because at the moment you think girls have cooties. Enjoy your youth Oliver, but be careful of others' feelings. Be open to love. I know that you will find a great love, hopefully you will be as happy with your mate as I have been with your father. Take time from your chosen line of work to experience life, and know that no choice you could make would ever be a disappoint to your father or I."

CO-CO-CO

At Star City's Queen Industries headquarters, Robert Queen was busy contracting extra security for his family and finding a school for Oliver closer to home. Chloe had said that Lionel hadn't tried to kill them again until 1995, but that each trip she took resulted in a new outcome. He might have a few years to before Lionel came at them again, but Robert wasn't taking any chances.

He buzzed his secretary to schedule an appointment that afternoon with his personal attorney. It was time to update their will. If he and Laura both died, Robert wanted to leave Oliver's care to people that would love him, not just manage him.

_-The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time. President Abraham Lincoln—_

In 2009 Chloe enjoyed a large puff of cotton candy delivered to Ali's room in a covered silver platter with the fanciest coffee preparation Chloe had ever seen. Chloe offered Ali some of the coffee but the teenager made a face and shook her head.

"Trust me, Ali, you will convert to my way of things. Coffee is a lifesaver in college."

Ali laughed again and Chloe smiled at the joyous sound. So any more questions for me?" Chloe finished her coffee and frowned. "Or am I supposed to take you around tomorrow too?"

"Oh, um, no I think it was just today, but I did want to see some more of Metropolis, maybe… if you're not busy, we could meet for lunch?"

Chloe smiled, still puzzled by Ali's attitude that Chloe was doing her a favor somehow. It was like no one had ever been nice to the girl before. Chloe settled back in her chair. She needed to get home (wherever that was) and find out where Oliver was and what he was doing. But it was nice to be with someone who didn't know her, who just wanted the pleasure of her company. It felt easy and normal. Chloe realized that she'd had too few of these moments in the past few years. "What did you want to see? We have museums, the riverfront, Roosevelt Park, there is more of campus to see if you're interested. My favorite café…"

"The riverfront. And the park if you don't mind. You must have a boyfriend or friends that you'd rather hang out with than me…"

"I don't know about that…" Chloe said with a laugh, realizing how true it was. "But if you want to see more of the city, I think there is a rooftop deck right here that would offer a pretty good view."

Ali's eyes lit up, then faded. "That's right, they have the restaurant up there, but it's closed for renovations."

"One rule of journalism… if you want to be a successful reporter, you never take no for an answer."

Ali's mouth falls open as Chloe stands up and pulls the teenager off the bed where she was sprawled. "You mean… break in?"

"No… of course not. If we get caught, our story is that we got lost. Just giggle a lot. And I'll pick the lock , not 'break' in."

Chloe laughed again as Ali grabbed her room key and towed Chloe out of the room rapidly. "I never get to do anything like this at home," Ali says with reverence.

CO-CO-CO

In 1989, Robert Queen finished the changes to his will, and looked up at his trusted lawyer and longtime friend. "I need to hire a private investigator. The best available. It will be a long term assignment. I need someone monitored and weekly reports. The man is dangerous, and whoever is hired will need to remain under the radar."

"What's going on Robert?" the lawyer asked.

"Someone is trying to kill me and my family. I don't intend to let that happen."

CO-CO-CO

Returning from the rooftop deck, Chloe and Ali are in good spirits. As the enter the hotel room, both girls are laughing. The door closes behind them and Ali turns to Chloe. "Oh my God…" she began but both girls jump as the door is pushed open just before it caught in the latch.

"I thought you promised to stay in your room once you got back Queenie," a male voice boomed. Both Chloe and Ali's faces turn white. As Oliver Queen enters the room.

Ali stares at him with wide eyes then squeals and throws herself into his arms. Chloe looks from one blonde head to the other as realization sets in.

"What kind of trouble have you been getting into, sis, and please be sure to tell mom and dad that I was not involved," Oliver teased his sister. Ali blushed and punched his arm affectionately. "Now introduce me to your friend who looks like she's about to pass out. I think I scared her." Brother and sister turn to face Chloe.

"Chloe, this is my brother, Oliver. Oliver, Chloe. She's the editor of the Met U Free Press and she's amazing. She showed me around all day and…"

"And took you up to the closed roof top deck? Yes, I heard," Oliver said seriously.

Ali wilted suddenly, and Chloe shook herself out of her stupor. "Nice to meet you. The renovations are being done in the restaurant, not the outside deck. We were perfectly safe."

Oliver and Ali both look taken aback at Chloe's hollow but sharp tone. Ali because it was a complete departure from Chloe's usual warm tone and Oliver because he was used to women speaking to him more admiringly.

Oliver narrows his eyes at the young woman, his eyes sweeping her body and taking note that she was attractive and curvaceous. "If it had been unsafe, our security never would have allowed you to get that far."

Chloe stared at Oliver for a moment, then blinked and looked at Ali, Oliver's little sister. The news still seemed unreal. "I'll leave you two to catch up." Chloe moved towards the door feeling like she'd been run over by a Mack truck.

Ali and Oliver shared a look of confusion. Then Ali chased after Chloe into the hallway. "Chloe, wait… is something wrong?"

"No, I'm fine," Chloe said robotically.

"Are you sure, you look… upset?" Ali questioned. "Did I say something?"

"No of course not. Ali… call me tomorrow if you want to go site seeing. Though I suppose your brother can take you now."

"No, I'm sure Oliver is busy. Chloe… are you sure you're ok? You look so pale."

Chloe forced a smile. "I'm fine, I promise, I… your brother… reminds me of someone."

"An old boyfriend?" Ali questioned.

"Something like that," Chloe agreed.

"Were you in love?" Ali asked eagerly, with all the zeal of a child who only saw romance and had never really experienced a heartbreak. "Did he break your heart?"

"Not exactly. Circumstances made it difficult," Chloe equivocated.

"But if you were in love…" Ali said hopefully. "Maybe you'll work things out."

"No," Chloe's smile was bittersweet. "Sometimes loving someone means letting them go, Ali. If you really love someone, you want what's best for them even if that's not you."

From around the corner in the hallway, Oliver eavesdropped on his sister and her new friend with a serious look on his face.

CO-CO-CO

"_When I am out there, in time, I am inverted, changed into a desperate version of myself.  
I become a thief, a vagrant, an animal who runs and hides. I startle old women and amaze children.  
I am a trick, an illusion of the highest order, so incredible that I am actually true."  
― Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Traveler's Wife_

Chloe finally found her way home after figuring out where home was now. Sitting at her desk with a familiar orange laptop before her, Chloe felt both exaltation and grief. She'd succeeded. The Queens were alive, Oliver was a good man, and he had a sister. Robert and Laura Queen had opposed Lionel successfully. They were alive, Queen Industries was bigger and more profitable than ever, and LuthorCorp was a good deal smaller and less influential than it had been in Chloe's life. It hadn't all been smooth sailing, but it had worked out.

The Star City news was full of stories about the Green Arrow. He'd become a hero. And he was still a ladies' man. Oliver was what was referred to as a serial monogamous. He'd had several long term exclusive relationships since college, with periods of womanizing between girlfriends.

His girlfriends appeared at his side at several events attended with his family. The Queens were, by all accounts, a close knit family.

He'd had the life Chloe had wanted for him. And he was a stranger to her now.

CO-CO-CO

Lois arrived home later to find Chloe crying in bed.

Lois kicked off her shoes and climbed into bed beside her cousin. "Chlo? What's wrong? Chloe, talk to me."

Chloe tried to stop her tears, a few breaths shuddering in her chest. "I changed the world, I changed everything for the man that I love and he'll never know. Someone exists because of me, people are alive because of me. Happier."

Lois looked concerned and confused. She hadn't known Chloe was dating anyone seriously, let alone that she was in love, and that last bit sounded like Chloe might be knocked up. "Slow down now explain this to me," Lois urged.

Chloe laughed through her tears. "It's too fantastical to ever believe. I mean come on. Him and me? In what world? But it was my world, and I loved him."

"Who?"

Chloe shook her head. "You'll never believe me."

"Try me Chlo. If anyone is going to believe some weird meteor related shit, it's me. Or the Prince of Plaid," Lois joked.

"I lost him. I've really lost him. This is what I wanted. I have to be OK with it. I have to," Chloe cried.

-AN I did a timeline to keep all the ages and events straight and for this story in 2009 Chloe is 20-21, Ali is 17, Oliver is 27. So this is one ending… Chloe succeeded in saving the Queens.

Words 4862


	8. Ch8: The Sullivan Lane Women

Disclaimer: Clearly not mine. I barely even know anything about Smallville so it couldn't have come from me.

-AN I'm changing the timing for Lois's mom's death and diagnosis, if she died when Lois was 5 (mentioned in SV) then she would have died right after having Lucy? And if she died when Lois was 10 (also mentioned in SV) then Chloe's mom disappeared while her sister was dying? That's just cold. So here the original timeline is: Chloe's mom left when she was 8 (1995), Lois's mom was diagnosed in 1996 and died in 1998 when Lois was 13.5 and Lucy was 8.

Several readers had questions about whether the Queens would remember Chloe and if Chloe would "stay" in this time/reality... here are your answers.

* * *

**Ch. 8: The Sullivan-Lane Women**

"_Peace demands the most heroic labor and the most difficult sacrifice.  
It demands greater heroism than war.  
It demands greater fidelity to the truth and a much more perfect purity of conscience."  
Thomas Merton (American and Trappist Monk)_

In her new life in 2009's Metropolis, Chloe discovered that her history had been much the same, at least up until college. There were a few changes, Smallville had remained the creamed corn capital of the world with an infusion of capital from Queen Industries keeping Pete's family's factory solvent at the point when Chloe knew Lionel had swooped in an pressured a sale in her timeline. Lionel didn't have the money or the power he'd had in her life, but he was still a billionaire (just to a lesser degree) and connected enough to be dangerous. He'd moved the castle to stand outside of Smallville, but hadn't spent much time there. Chloe knew he must have been looking for Clark.

Chloe's father had managed the factory for the Ross's, moving Chloe to Smallville in 1998, two weeks before Chloe started 8th grade.

From what Lois told her, Smallville had still been the meteor freak capital of the world, but life had been quieter and more peaceful without the daily presence of Lex or Lionel in their lives. Lana had never gotten involved with Lex, and as far as Chloe could tell Lex had never met Clark. Chloe had met both Luthors when Lex when he had granted her a short interview on a whim during her high school internship with the Daily Planet. Lionel had stopped by and given Chloe a few minutes of his time. It had been quite the coup for a teenage reporter. It gave Chloe chills to know what Lionel had going on behind the scenes at the same time as her interview.

Luckily in this reality, that encounter was as close as Chloe had come to the Luthors.

Dark Thursday had still happened in 2007, but with both Queen Industries and LuthorCorp donating money to rebuild, the city and Met U only had a few scars left from Zod's rampage. Chloe would have to talk to Clark to find out who Zod had used as a vessel on that trip- there were limits to Lois's knowledge and what was available on the internet.

Chloe had interned at the Daily Planet her freshman and sophomore years, but had advanced to a paid student worker position the summer before her junior year. Chloe was happy to see she was on course to graduate from Met U with honors with a double major in journalism and public policy.

Chloe was still friends with Clark and Lois worked at the inquisitor. When Chloe had gotten an apartment in Metropolis after Dark Thursday leveled her dorm, Lois had moved in with her. The girls had lived together within walking distance to campus for the past two years.

Chloe found from her Facebook page that she had a much wider group of friends in this reality. Staying in school had been good for her. She had dated Jimmy but that relationship had fizzled, and Chloe had dated several other guys, never going back to Jimmy after the breakup, but according to Lois, none had gotten too serious. Lois said that Chloe knew a guy named Davis, but Lois didn't know much about him. She got the feeling that Chloe was uncomfortable around him, but not that there had been a big issue.

Lana had never been involved with Lex, but she and Clark had still had a rocky relationship. According to Lois they were on and off more than a light switch for years, until Lana had left to do a semester abroad. She'd come back, but either through her choice or Clark's they had not resumed their turbulent relationship. Lois didn't know, and Chloe wasn't sure she wanted to know.

Chloe's father still lived and worked in Smallville, her mother had still disappeared in 1995 when Chloe was just eight years old.

Chloe was pleased with the changes to her life, but she was overwhelmed by the changes to the Queens' history. They'd pulled Oliver out of Excelsior after he finished the semester in 1989. Enrolling him at a private school in Star City, there were some news reports showing that the Queens had stepped up their private security measures.

A year after Chloe had saved them, they'd announced they were having a daughter. Laura Queen had been open in the press that they had used fertility treatments to become pregnant. In 1991, Oliver became a big brother at age 10. Oliver and his parents doted on the girl, and the press had dubbed the littlest blonde member of the family, Queenie.

In 1993, Robert Queen and Dr. Swann had made front page headlines with their new venture to explore farther into space than ever before with Dr. Swann's knowledge of astronomy and space, and Robert's ever improving satellite technology.

In 1995, a Time magazine article had highlighted how Queen Industries had been attacking LuthorCorp for years- taking deals and blocking expansion. Investors were aware that if you invested with LuthorCorp, you would never do business with Queen Industries. That fact alone curtailed Lionel's power as people were reluctant to cut ties with QI to take a chance on Lionel, who was less than open with investors about his companies ventures.

There were sealed criminal investigation files dated from 1994 and 1997 that were related to the Queens. Chloe assumed that they were other attempts on the Queens' lives. Alicia, or Ali as she was called by friends and family began school in 1996. The paparazzi got several shots of her being dropped off by either parent or her big brother over the years.

The pictures of the family together made Chloe smile. Oliver looked so happy; Robert and Laura so proud of their family. They had continued their philanthropy over the years, donating to various charities in America and around the globe. The press loved them, following their every move. The entertainment press even set up a countdown clock to Oliver's 18th birthday, declaring him America's new most eligible bachelor.

In 2000, Lionel was charged with corporate espionage. Tired of losing to Robert Queen, Lionel had tried to get insider information from QI. He'd been caught. He'd spent six months in jail and paid a huge fine.

It hadn't all been smooth sailing. In 2002, Lionel had attacked the Queens again. Laura and Queenie had disappeared on their way home from a shopping trip. It was five agonizing days before the ransom demand was sent to Robert Queen, asking for 750 million dollars. He'd put the money together quickly, willing to pay anything for his wife and daughter. The kidnappers had drug out negotiations for weeks, until Robert was desperate to pay any price. Then private communications between the kidnappers and Robert revealed the true goal: the Veritas key. Nearly six weeks after Laura and Ali had been taken, Robert's security team in combination with the FBI had raided a warehouse in Black Creek, Montana where Laura and Ali were being held. Laura Queen and her eleven year old daughter had been found alive.

No member of the Queen family ever talked about the kidnapping publically except to say that they were happy to have their whole family together and safe again. Three months later, Laura had made her first post-kidnapping public appearance at a fundraiser for autism. A year later the Queens had more reason to celebrate. Lionel Luthor was tried and convicted on two counts of kidnapping.

Just shy of his 23rd birthday Lex Luthor had taken over LuthorCorp, following his father's conviction, and vowed to remake the company into a bastion of honor and social responsibility. It was under his leadership that LuthorCorp had helped to rebuild Metropolis after Dark Thursday.

Chloe could see from the pictures and articles that growing up under the spotlight of the celebrity media had been hard on Ali. She'd always had security, had survived being kidnapped, but clearly had a difficult time knowing who to trust. It was equally clear that Oliver loved his sister with a devotion that made Chloe want to cry. There was one picture where Oliver was looking at Ali with a look of absolute affectionate that Chloe remembered well.

Chloe closed her laptop and refused to look any farther. She'd been living in the past, and now her life was the past. She needed to learn to live in the here and now. Just like her Oliver had urged her to. Only now she would have to do it alone.

A knock sounded on the door, and Chloe yelled for Clark to enter. "Come in! I'm almost ready. But Clark… so help me God if you run off on me and leave me at a…" she shuttered for effect, "football game."

Clark smiled at his oldest, best friend. "I'll try Chloe, but you know I can't control when things happen."

"Yeah, yeah. I picture a very boring, lonely afternoon for myself." She teased and Clark grinned.

"_The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once." Albert Einstein_

As Oliver was delivering his little sister back home to their parents safely, he was pleased she'd had a good trip, but was undeniably worried that she seemed so infatuated with both Met U and Chloe Sullivan. Oliver and his parents wanted Ali as far from Metropolis as possible despite Lionel Luthor being in jail and dying of liver cancer. But he couldn't help but be proud that Ali wanted to address her fears head on and attend college in the home town of the man who had shattered her feeling of security in the world.

Oliver looked at his sister with affection, smiling at her as she rambled on and on, but not really listening anymore. Oliver had been an only child until he was 10, but as soon as Queenie had been born he'd never imagined his life without her. Now that she was 17 and getting ready to go to college in just a few months, Oliver had been forced to face the fact that Ali was growing up, and was ready to branch out on her own. It was tough on Oliver, and he knew his parents were struggling to let their youngest child go.

"Hey Queenie…"

Ali frowned at Oliver. "You know I hate being called that."

"You're right," Oliver agreed quickly. "You're too young to be Queen, maybe more of a princess, right princess?"

"You're so mean to me," Ali pouted.

"I'm not and you know it, so stop pouting. Now if you're done with telling me all about your new BFF Chloe, maybe we can discuss something else?"

Ali stuck out her tongue at Oliver, wanting for once to get the last word. "Fine, what do you want to talk about Ollie?" She said in a bored tone that implied that they always talked about what he wanted to.

"I was thinking, if you're going to leave home…" Ali's face lit up, "I said _if_, Ali. And you know if you decide to go to college in Metropolis, you're going to have more security than you do now. Which you hate."

"But _if_ I want to, you'll support me? You'll help me convince Mom and Dad?" Ali pleaded with big innocent eyes that never failed to wrap Oliver around her finger, though she was too guileless to know it even after all these years.

Oliver frowned, still not liking the idea, but he nodded. Ali threw her arms around him and hugged him tight as the pilot on the Queen family's private jet announced their descent into Star City. "So I was thinking we should get Mom and Dad a dog when you go. Give them something to lavish all that empty nest attention on."

"Ollie," Ali laughed and groaned at the same time.

CO-CO-CO

Arriving at Queen Manner, Oliver had barely stopped the car in the front drive when his parents were rushing towards them. Laura and Robert Queen fell on their youngest child with hugs and smiles, as if it had been weeks not merely three days since they'd seen her.

Oliver watched with amusement. "I'll just take the bags inside. Let me know when you've finished checking her over for any slight injuries and are ready to acknowledge your eldest child," Oliver drawled, pushing the point that his parents were overzealous with their attention to Ali, which he knew she struggled with, and pointing out that he hadn't seen his parents in over a month, since he'd been away in Europe on business.

Robert let Ali go with one more squeeze and walked over to his son, who stood just an inch taller than himself. "Ollie, good to see you back. I trust you can spare a few moments time for dinner with your mother and I."

Oliver feigned checking the time, and pondering his availability. "I do have a date with a redhead, but I suppose she'll wait if I'm a bit late," he opined. Robert reached out to shake his son's hand, then pulls him into a one armed hug.

Laura narrows her eyes at her son, exasperated with Oliver's blasé attitude towards women. "Oliver, what have I told you about…" she broke off as Oliver grinned at her, revealing that he'd been teasing her. He dipped down to kiss her cheek as she glared at him.

"You know I've been waiting to meet the right woman yet, Mom. They broke the mould after they made you."

She can't help but smile and she pushes his handsome face away from her. "Flatterer."

CO-CO-CO

Sitting around a smallish informal dining table later that night, the Queens share concerned looks as Ali described her visit to Metropolis, painting the city and campus as perfection. Robert looked at his daughter, his reservations clearly displayed on his face. "Ali, you know we agreed to this visit but your mother and I are just not comfortable with you being in Metropolis."

"But Daddy…" Ali whined, her face filling with disappointment.

"Ali, we want you to be happy, but there are so many schools you could attend, any school anywhere…" Laura tries to persuade her child.

"Met U is a school, it's any school, anywhere," Ali argued with stubbornness, some attitude peaking through in her tone

"Ali," Robert said warningly, but before he could continue, Oliver intervened.

"She hasn't even gotten to her favorite part of the trip yet." All of his family members turned to face him, his parents with surprise, knowing that Oliver was even more protective of Alicia than they were, Ali's with hopeful entreaty. "Ail made a new friend while in Metropolis."

"Oh?" Laura asked turning to see that her daughter's stubborn look had faded into a smile. How much that smile was for a new friend or her brother's rescue, she wasn't sure.

Ali spoke quickly knowing that if her parents said no now, she'd never change their minds, but if she could keep the conversation open, she might persuade them, especially if Ollie was on her team. "The university assigned a student to take me around campus. She…" Ali smiled widely, her eyes glowing with happiness. "I don't think she knew who I was at all. She was so amazing. She's a journalism major, editor of the Free Press even though she's only a junior, and has interned at the Daily Planet since she was in high school. She's awesome, and so pretty and smart. She has a 3.87 GPA and lived in the dorms her first semester. She said it's not great, but it's a good way to meet people, and…"

"Does she have a name, or does she only answer to 'paragon of virtue'"? Robert asked in the teasing tone so common in their family, letting the fight over Met U pass for the moment.

"Chloe. Chloe Sullivan. She grew up in Kansas, and…" Ali continues rambling on about her new friend, hoping that Chloe would still want to be her friend if she attended Met U in the fall. Chloe had been a bit reserved when they'd met for lunch, but Ali knew that people were often intimidated by her family's wealth. She hoped Chloe would be able to put it aside and still see Ali as just Ali.

Robert and Laura shared a look that carried some heavy meaning, and Oliver narrowed his eyes watchfully as he caught his parents' nonverbal exchange.

"Chloe…" Laura paused to clear her throat, trying very hard to appear natural. "What did she look like?"

"She's pretty, short… no I guess average height, blonde. And she had the cutest short haircut and the coolest clothes. She had this leather jacket but it was like, natural on her, not like the girls that Oliver dates who are trying to look fashionable," Ali said in a bating tone aimed at her brother.

Oliver frowned at his sister, but is distracted again by the looks his parents were sharing. "She is pretty," he inserted himself into the conversation.

His mother turned to face him, her mouth falling open before she could catch herself. "You met her too?"

"Briefly. She didn't seem to like me much," Ollie offered.

His father's hand moved under the table, and Oliver knew that he is squeezing his mother's hand, offering support or telling her to let something go. It was one of their things. Oliver had rolled his eyes at their affectionate interactions as a child, but now he found it charming that they were still so devoted to each other.

Oliver narrowed his eyes not liking when his parents kept secrets. They'd had secrets when he was a child, had tried to keep from him the danger that Lionel Luthor posed to their family. Once Oliver had graduated from Harvard, Robert had took him aside and laid it all out.

"Chloe. Didn't you want to name Ali Chloe, Mom?" Oliver asked, causing his mother to flush.

"That's right, I remember you telling me that as a kid. Dad had to talk you out of it," Ali said, missing the undertones in the conversation.

"Well, it is a lovely name," Laura said noncommittally.

Robert catches Oliver's eye knowing that his son had caught on to their response to the name. "Your mother and I had a… very dear friend named Chloe once upon a time. We both still think of her with the utmost respect and regard."

"I never met her," Ali said, looking to Oliver for if he'd met this other Chloe.

"Nor I." Oliver said abidingly, obeying his father's look that commanded that he let the topic go.

CO-CO-CO

Unpacking Ali's laundry from her suitcase that night, Laura tried to casually redirect the conversation to Chloe and found that Ali was more than happy to discuss her new friend. "Her name is Chloe Sullivan, she's from Smallville. That's where the meteors fell."

"I know." Laura listened with intent attention as Ali gave a complete recounting of her time with Chloe. Laura felt her heart clench when Ali laughingly described how Chloe had reacted to Oliver. "She didn't even smile at him, it was awesome. He might as well have been drywall for all she cared. But she did say how he reminded her of an old boyfriend. She must have really loved him."

"Why do you say that honey?" Laura had to force the words out past a lump in her throat.

"They were broken up, and it was clear she still had feeling for him, but she said that sometimes if you really love someone you have to let them go. She said that she'd really loved him, but that he had needed something other than her. Isn't that just the saddest thing you've ever heard?" Ali turned to find a tortured expression on her mother's still pretty and youthful face. "Mom?"

"Yes. That is rather sad. She sounds like a very special young woman. Maybe I'll get to meet her someday."

Ali stared at her mother for another second, wanting to ask why she looked so sad, but was distracted by the import of her mother's words. "Does that mean you're open to the idea of me going to Met U?" Ali asked with bubbling excitement.

CO-CO-CO

Robert was waiting for his wife as she exited Ali's room. He silently held his arms open to her, and she didn't hesitate before accepting the comfort of his arms.

"Is it her?" he asked.

Laura nodded her head, rubbing her cheek against his chest. "Chloe Sullivan. The same name, and the description matches. I told you she was the one."

He patted her back as he felt her tears soak into his shirt. "I know you did. Do you think she just…"

"Yeah. I think for her it was just a few days ago," Laura said in a whisper, imagining Chloe's shock at seeing Oliver and realizing that she'd succeeded, and that Oliver didn't know her. Chloe would have looked into their past as soon as she's arrived back in her time, she would have known who Ali was, but she hadn't.

"We've done all we can, Laura. She told us not to try to find her. We have to respect that she knows what she wants."

"I know, but…"

"I know. I want to see her again too, to thank her for our family," Robert said feeling his own emotions starting to get the better of him. He tightened his hold on his wife. "But she could come to us if she wanted to, Laur. You have to respect her wishes. We've already interfered enough."

His wife pushed free of his arms, glaring up at him stubbornly. It was a look he was familiar with, as all the members of his family had the same exact look. "We repaid the smallest part of a debt, that we owed. If she doesn't like it, I'll apologize, but don't tell me that…" He cuts off her rampage with a kiss not wanting to fight and not wanting Ali to overhear.

Robert knew he could never pay the debt he owed to Chloe, but Laura seemed to have taken a very personal interested in Chloe's relationship with Oliver. Robert was compassionate too, knew that the girl had to have loved their son to do what she'd done, but he felt that if they were meant to find each other in this life, that they should be left to their own devices to do so.

"_Looking back you realize that a very special person passed briefly through your life- and it was you.  
It is not too late to find that person again." Robert Brault_

Chloe settled into her new life, exploring her schedule and 'new' friends. She knew she wasn't done with trips to the past, but also knew that she needed to let her emotions stabilize. She'd lost the love of her life, she deserved to mourn.

Lois was the only one who Chloe had brought into her secret, and she was pleasantly surprised that after a stream of ideas for things Chloe could change in the past, most said in the attempt to make Chloe laugh, "You could go back and bet on the Survivor winners, or find out what really happened to Kennedy, or convince me not to cut bangs into my hair in 8th grade, and _definitely_ tell me not to let that pathetic Billy Cooper pop my cherry in the back of his mother's car for two minutes of teenage disappointment…" Lois had not asked Chloe to do anything.

Chloe knew Lois had to be thinking of her mother, but Chloe couldn't stop cancer, and Lois knew Chloe needed a break. Lois had a hard time with the idea that her cousin had lived a whole other life, a life that had included loving and now losing billionaire Oliver Queen. Lois's heart ached for her baby cousin, she seemed older and more mature, more world weary than the cousin Lois had known. They were the same, but different.

Lois just hoped that when Chloe went back to help Moira, that she found some sense of peace. Lois knew Chloe couldn't save Lois's mother. But Aunt Moira was a different story. And Chloe deserved a happy ending.

"_May the dreams of your past be the reality of your future."_

After just a few weeks of acclimatizing to her new life, Chloe decided that she was ready to try again. Her mission to save the Queens had been accomplished, but there was more to be done. So much more. Chloe just hoped that the next changes she made to the past would have happy endings.

Chloe arranged to have a weekend off work, knowing that she may need to make several jumps and might need the time to discover the changes to her life or admit defeat, depending on the outcome. So on a Friday afternoon she leaps back to 1995. Chloe had been eight years old when her mother had left, about to turn 9. She was just in third grade.

Chloe watched with bittersweet emotion filling her as her mother picked her up from school in Metropolis. Chloe knew that it was the last time Moira had done so.

When Chloe was young her family had had a ritual, Friday nights were father/daughter nights. After Moira left every night was father/daughter night, but Chloe still remembered those Fridays affectionately.

Either Chloe and Gabe would go out to dinner and a movie or some other activity, or they would stay in for pizza and a movie if Moira was going out. However it worked out, Chloe got some one on one time with Gabe, and Moira got some alone time or a night out with friends. Chloe planned to exploit that. Chloe knew from her memory that this Friday night Chloe and Gabe would be out until nearly 10pm since Chloe would successfully talk him into a milkshake after seeing Toy Story.

Chloe watched from across the street as her younger self and Gabe left the house. There was a tension in her father's shoulders that she hadn't registered as a child. Gabe had told her that he didn't know where Moira had gone, but maybe he hadn't been as blindsided as Chloe that she'd gone.

As soon as Gabe's car was out of view down the street, Chloe crossed the street and knocked on the door. Moira opened it after a minute. "Yes, can I help you?" Chloe stared at her mother, unable to speak through her swirling emotions. "Miss? Are you alright? Can I call someone for you?"

"No, there's no one to call, but you can help me. I… I'm… Can I come in?" Chloe asked, realizing that she should have rehearsed for this moment.

"I'm sorry, I'm a bit busy." Moira denied Chloe entry.

"Busy packing so you can abandon your family, never to be seen again for ten years?" Chloe questioned sharply.

Moira drew back, shocked, and attempted to shut the door in Chloe's face, but Chloe stuck her foot in the door jamb to stop her. "No, I'm not letting you shut me out and walk out of my life again, only to pop back up with your damn mind control, to mess up my life, then disappear again," Chloe said forcefully.

Moira released her grip on the door, backing up in fear as the stranger at her door revealed that she knew Moira's most deeply held secret. "Who are you? What do you want?"

"Who am I? You don't recognize me. Lois says I look just like our grandmother, your mother." Chloe's sharp words penetrate and Moira's eyes widened comically. "Hi Mom, we should have a talk."

"No, you can't be…" Moira said weakly.

Chloe closed the door behind her to secure their privacy. "I can, and I am. You can control meteor infected people with your mind, surely you can believe in the possibility that I can be here, now."

"But… how?" Moira stepped closer to Chloe, reaching out a tentative hand to touch her daughter's face, seeing the family resemblance now. Chloe had taken after Moira's mother, while Moira, Ella, Lois and Lucy all took after Moira's father with his height and dark hair. Moira ran her hand over Chloe's cheek as tears filled her eyes. "You grew up so beautiful."

Chloe closed her eyes and pressed her cheek into her mother's touch, letting herself have the moment. "I grew up without a mother," Chloe said with her hurt laid bare.

"I need to go, I need to… you don't understand, I hurt you… I'll come back, I promise, I will, once I'm better, once they find a cure…" Moira crumbled before Chloe's eyes.

"There is no cure, you are meteor infected, so am I, so are lots of people. You don't get cured, you learn to live with it. You have me and Dad, and we need you here." Moira shook her head, wanting so badly not the hear what Chloe was saying. "You left when I was eight, and you never came back. Lionel Luthor locked you up to exploit your power, not cure you. Your husband will never see you again. I won't see you again until you reach out and control me to try to free yourself from the prison you signed up for. I get you out… I got you out, but you were…" Chloe swallowed back her tears. "You were catatonic. If you were still in there, you were lost to me. You'll be institutionalized for the rest of your life. And I won't have a mother."

"No. Lionel wants to help, he said he could help me…"

"He lied. You're an adult, think about it rationally. What does Lionel Luthor have to gain by helping you? _Nothing_! Does he strike you as the type of person who helps people out of the goodness of his heart? You're not this stupid, Mom!"

"Chloe Anne Sullivan!" Moira reprimands her daughter, even if this was a grown up version of Chloe. "You do not speak to your mother like that."

Chloe laughed bitterly. "Really? After this weekend I won't have a mother, so I think I'll talk to you any way I want, any way that might get through to you." Moira drew back as if Chloe had slapped her. "Do you know what it's like to be a girl growing up without a mother? To grow up knowing that your mother left you? Do you know what that does to a… to me." Chloe's voice rose until she was yelling. She forced herself to take a deep calming breath, and speak more sedately. "Do you know what that did to me? I had no idea where you went, or why you left. I grew up thinking that my mother didn't care enough to want to see me, that you didn't want me. Because if you loved me, you would have called or wrote, or come back, right? But you never did."

Moira stumbled backwards to sit on the couch, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I'm leaving because I love you."

Chloe fell to her knees before her mother. "I know that I don't know what you're going through. I don't even really know you," she said emotionally, all her anger falling away. "But I am asking you not to leave." Moira shut her eyes and Chloe can see that she won't win this fight. Her voice is rough with tears and emotion, "OK, OK, if you have to go, if you think you have to leave, don't go with Lionel. Don't trust him, run as far away from him as possible. Just… just promise me that, please."

Moira cupped her hands around Chloe's face, looking into her familiar green eyes brimming with tears. "I love you baby, so much, I have to leave, I need to get myself together so you can have the mother you deserve."

Chloe swallowed hard, hearing the familiar motivation. Chloe had given Oliver up so he could have the life he deserved. Moira said that she was leaving so she could come back and Chloe could have the mother she deserved. Chloe knew that Oliver had failed to talk her out of it, no matter how much she loved him. Just as she would fail to convince her mother.

Chloe wiped the tears off her face, and stood up to look down at her mother. "I love you Mom. Please think before you do anything."

"I love you, baby. Never doubt that, no matter what happens, never doubt that I love you, that I will always love you. You are the best part of me, the only thing in my life that I ever got 100 percent right."

Chloe nodded and closed her eyes wishing herself back to 2009. There was nothing more to be done here.

"_Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future,  
concentrate the mind on the present moment." Buddha_

Chloe spent the night on the couch with a tub of chocolate ice cream and a stack of romantic comedies. She didn't look into the past, she just sat and vegged out. Seeing her mother had been an emotional trip, and Chloe was still not able to think about Oliver without overwhelming regret and sadness. She wouldn't take it back, any of it, but she realized that she needed to take more care of herself as she moved forward. She wouldn't be able to fix everything, save everyone, and she needed to accept that.

The next morning, Chloe woke up feeling curiously still and calm. Pulling her family photo albums off a closet shelf, Chloe closed her eyes and sent a wish out into the universe. Opening her eyes, she opened the pages, and smiled. The smile didn't light up her face, it wasn't a joyous, it was contented.

Flipping the pages, Chloe saw that the past, her past, had changed again. There were pictures of her mother at Chloe's 9th and 10th birthday parties. Pictures of Moira with Chloe's Aunt Ella at the hospital after Ella was diagnosed in 1996.

Moira was missing from Chloe's 12th birthday party a few months after Ella had lost her battle with cancer. Chloe smiled at the pictures of her and Gabe posing for pictures as they moved out of their Metropolis townhouse. Maybe her mother had left, but Chloe had always known Gabe was there for her. Chloe nodded slowly, realizing that it was enough. Flipping through the rest of the pages, Chloe found some more surprises.

There were pictures of her and Clark holding hands, and a few of them kissing. Chloe blinked her confusion realizing that she and Clark had dated in high school. Pulling out her high school yearbooks from the same closet shelf, Chloe saw that she and Lana had both dated Clark off and on for their sophomore and junior years. Chloe had also dated several other boys, and not all of them were meteor freaks set on killing her.

It appeared that by Chloe's senior year she has done with the Clark-Lana triangle and had started dating guys from the junior college just outside Smallville. The photos of Gabe with Chloe and the guys suggested that she'd had several relationships that had lasted beyond a few dates. At the back of the family album Chloe found that someone had pasted in a manila envelope. Undoing the clasp, Chloe pulled out several letters written in her mother's writing.

Moira had kept in touch with Chloe over the years after she'd left. Chloe devoured the letters, which were stacked in chronological order. Moira had stuck it out for a few years leaving in 1999, when her ability had gotten the better of her mental health. She'd left, but she'd sat down to talk to Chloe and Gabe before she'd gone. Moira had not taken Lionel up on his offer, instead she'd enrolled in an in-patient program for people with special needs at the Resilience Center a half hour north of Star City. A quick internet search confirmed Chloe's suspicions, the Queens were the major contributors to the Center and had provided the funds to build it in 1990. The center treated people with "special needs" but a closer look revealed that many of their patients came from Smallville and the surrounding towns.

Chloe had only told the Queens her name, but she had no doubt that they had the resources and intelligence to track her down if they'd wanted too.

The Queens contributing the funds to save Smallville's biggest employer, Ross Creamed Corn, could have been a coincidence. Chloe's mother ending up at the Queens facility, was one coincidence too many. Chloe looked but didn't find any more circumstances of their interference into her life.

In 2009, Moira was living and working in the small town where the Resilience Center was located. She still wrote to Chloe, but Chloe couldn't tell when their last in person visit had been.

Chloe sat back and reflected on the new history she found herself in. The continued presence of her mother in her life, even in the form of letters, clearly had an impact on Chloe, making her more confident and centered. That had translated to Chloe having more confidence with her relationships with guys, and somehow more female friends as well.

Chloe laughed imagining Clark as the Archie to her and Lana's Betty and Veronica combination. Soon tears were streaming down her cheeks as she laughed for the history she would never remember.

Lois came home to find Chloe on the floor surrounded with photos and yearbooks, looking giddy but tired. "What did you do now?"

Chloe smiled at her cousin. "I helped my mom."

Lois makes a face like she's trying to remember. "Like how? She still left right? She's in Star City?"

"Yeah, but it's better this time. You remember this time."

Lois looked confused. "What?" She frowned, realizing that with each change Chloe made Lois would only remember the new past. She puts her hands on her hips and glares down at her baby cousin. "This sucks." She grabbed Chloe's hand and pulled her off the floor settling both of them down on the couch. "Tell me everything." Chloe shook her head a silly little smile on her face. "Don't do that Chlo, you're not alone in this. I'm here, and I'm not letting you keep all this in."

"You're a good cousin, Lo," Chloe said with feeling.

"Tell me something I don't know," Lois scoffed, but smiled softly.

"You're next."

"What?" Lois replied, not following Chloe's train of thought.

"You're next. I helped my mom, Aunt Ella is next."

Lois's face went blank then she hugged Chloe to her tightly. "You don't have to Chlo."

"Yes I do."

CO-CO-CO

Chloe knew she couldn't stop cancer. Her only hope was to convince her aunt to get a mammogram ealier and hopefully the early diagnosis would be enough to provide a better outcome. Unwilling to be left out, Lois decided that the best way to proceed would be for Lois to write a letter about how her mother's death affected her. Chloe objected, worried that Aunt Ella wouldn't be as open to the weird and unexplained as Moira or the Queens had been. Lois refused to give up her idea though, and wrote the letter from the perspective of an anonymous daughter to her mother.

She makes two copies of the letter, one for Chloe to give to Lois's mom and the other for Chloe to give to Lois, so Lois can read in her own words how things were if Chloe was successful.

"No the point is that you not have that pain Lo, that's the only point," Chloe argued against Lois's request.

"But I want to know, I need to know, and you need someone to be in this with you Chloe. It's nonnegotiable. I wrote it all down. This one's for me." She pushed a letter into Chloe's hand. "How my life went, how you are some HG Wells type hero, how I lost my mom and you go back to try to stop it." Lois's hand clenched on the letter in her hand, wrinkling it, before smoothing it flat and holding it out for Chloe. "I want you to give this letter to my mom."

"Lois, I can't, it's too much interference, we don't know what will happen… I've already risked too much…" Chloe said guiltily. She'd risked it for the Queens, but this reality was

* * *

good, better for everyone, except maybe Chloe, but she was still working on it. But she couldn't risk messing it up now, not now.

"I wrote it anonymously. She won't know it's from me. But hopefully it will speak to her enough to go to the doctor. It's our life, mine, Lucy's and the General's, just without the names," Lois said persuasively.

CO-CO-CO

In May of 2009, Chloe and Lois celebrated Mother's day without their mothers. Chloe sent her mother flowers and a letter, and she and Lois delivered flowers to the cemetery where Ella Lane was buried. They'd invited Lucy, but she'd said she had other things to do.

Standing over the gravesite, Chloe squeezed Lois's hand. "I tried."

"You did good, Chlo. I had five more years with her. Lucy had five more years. It's more than enough. It's everything."

Lois's letter had done the trick, and Ella had gotten an early screening for breast cancer. They caught the cancer before it metastasized, but unfortunately the cancer had come back three years later. Two years after that, in 2003, Ella Lane had died with her family at her side. Lois had been 19 and had deferred college for a year to be there to take care of her mother. Lucy was just 13, but at 13 rather than the original timeline's eight years old, she would at least remember her mother.

CO-CO-CO

* * *

_AN- As you can all see, Chloe is sticking with this reality – for the most part. This chapter made me tear up a bit while writing. And I think this is going to be more than 10 chapters, maybe closer to 12. Or 15 knowing me, but no more than that. I'm going off the idea that Davis never got involved with Chloe because things changed so much in the Luthor timeline. Therefore without getting involved with Chloe or Clark, he never had the catalyst to spark the beast to life._

_Words: 6787_


	9. Ch9: The Innocent Luthors

Disclaimer: not mine. I barely even know anything about Smallville so it couldn't have come from me.

-AN I couldn't find out who the actors were in the picture of the Queens and I didn't want to use the actor that played Robert Queen, so… I made my own actor selection as you can see in the chapter banner.

* * *

**Ch. 9: **_**The Innocent Luthors**_

In June school let out and Chloe suddenly had more free time on her hands. She was surprised by the plethora of end of year parties she was invited to, again reminded that her life was different here. Chloe had gone to a few, mostly staying on the sidelines watching, sipping a beer and flirting with the occasional guy.

It was at one of these parties that Chloe found out that everyone thought she was dating someone at the Daily Planet on the down low. "Why do you think that?" Chloe laughed at one of her new friends when she asked her outright who the new man was.

"You don't come out much anymore and you're giving off this 'hands off' vibe," the friend who worked with Chloe at the student paper explained.

"A vibe, huh. I think you're going to need some real evidence before you start spreading that around," Chloe had teased back even as she realized that it was true. Chloe still felt like she was in a relationship. She felt taken, and apparently she was acting accordingly. Chloe frowned knowing she should start moving on, but the idea of going out with another guy, letting him kiss and touch her just felt wrong.

Chloe knew she'd have to let go of the past someday, but she wasn't ready. Not yet.

"No, no secret boyfriend. Can't a girl take some time for herself without there being some big secret?" Chloe offered up an excuse, laughing to herself that her secret was bigger than most people would be able to digest.

CO-CO-CO

Chloe's next trip didn't end as well. She knew her chances of success were slim. And she was messing with time that had already been messed with. Jonathon Kent's death was a black mark on Clark's already difficult life. Chloe wanted to be able to give back Jonathon to his wife and son, but it was not meant to be. The moment of Jonathon's death was too long coming, with too many pieces tied into it. Lionel, Jor-El, the stress of a failing farm, alien attacks, and keeping Clark's secret, with the Senate campaign. There were too many moving pieces for Chloe to figure out which one to stop. She'd tried to get medical help to the barn the night of his final attack, but it wasn't enough.

CO-CO-CO

A few days after Chloe came back from the past again, she received a voicemail from Ali, saying that she was coming to Met U in the fall and would be there in two weeks for a student orientation. Chloe smiled as she listened to the girl's exuberance, clearly happy with her choice in college. "I was hoping that we could hang out while I'm there. I'd feel better knowing someone there before I move, but I totally understand if you're busy. Call me…"

Ali had friended Chloe on Facebook not long after the day they'd spent together touring campus, and Chloe had accepted, but tried not to look at Ali's page for hints about her family. Chloe wanted desperately to know more about the Queens and Oliver, but she was trying to stop herself from looking. Oliver was her old life, and she needed to focus on this life.

"_No man is rich enough to buy back his past." Oscar Wilde_

A chance encounter on the street with Lex sent Chloe on her next mission. She'd run into him as he exited a limousine headed into LuthorCorps' offices. He'd remembered her, recalling her name and greeting her politely. Chloe saw that he was not so different from the man she'd known. Maybe the man he'd become didn't deserve her help, but the man he'd been when they'd first met, the boy he'd been—that was another matter.

So many of the things she's wanted to accomplish at the onset had been achieved. Save the Queens. Stop Lionel. Stop Lana from marrying Lex, stop Oliver from being shipwrecked. Stop Lionel from buying the Ross's factory. Chloe never could have thought that the Queens would have such a wide reaching impact on the lives of Chloe's family and friends. She'd even managed to help her mother and aunt. But Lex, Julian and Lillian Luthor were still on her list.

Chloe still remembered Lex as the man he'd been when they'd first met. He might not have been a good man, but he was light years better than the hard manipulative man he'd been at the end. Chloe knew Lex was a product of his environment. Cut off from other children by his wealth and differentness, left to fend for himself after his mother's death, raised by a father who used The Art of War as a parenting book—had Lex ever had a real chance?

So Chloe leapt into the past once again, on what could be a fool's errand. Knowing that the odds favored her meeting Lex later in life, Chloe adopted a auburn wig and glasses to hide her identity. She'd gained entry to the Castle easy enough, Lionel's security had been lacking even then, but Lillian Luthor nee Walton was in no shape to be reasoned with. The woman had realized the weight of her mistake in marrying Lionel, she saw the damage he was doing to their eldest son, but felt powerless to help. Lionel had in effect forced her into a pregnancy she didn't want and her own instability combined with post-partum depression were undoubtedly the cocktail that had led her to kill her infant son.

Chloe changed tact and tried to conjure up who would be in a position to help her achieve her goal. The sound of Lillian singing a familiar lullaby to Julian wafting out an open window before she broke down in tears, cemented the answer for Chloe. Moira had sung the same song to Chloe. A lullaby passed from generation to generation.

From within her hiding place Chloe disappeared in a wisp of green mist.

Chloe jumped back to 2009, to research the best approach for her next targets. The following day she jumped to a small town in Montana. Lillian's parents had been well off, and had retired to a small spread on the plains of Montana, just outside of Kalispell. Chloe didn't know the Waltons and couldn't risk revealing the truth of her visit to them so she needed a way in.

She got lucky when she overheard a conversation in a the town's only café. Chloe definitely looked out of place in her clothing, a stranger standing out obviously in a town as small as this one, but she explained it away easy enough. She was traveling the country, and her car had broken down about 150 miles east. Chloe needed to make it to Calgary where she could meet up with some friends who would offer her a ride home.

"A pretty young thing like you, traveling alone? Wasn't done in my time, why what will you do if something happens to you?" the café owner, a weather beaten looking man in his 50s asked her.

"Now, don't you go trying to scare the girl, this is the 90s, Herbert. Young women are as free as men to make their own adventures before settling down. It ain't like when we were young," a woman, who Chloe assumed was Herbert's wife steped in. "You need some ready cash, missy? We could use some help giving the kitchen a good cleaning."

"That's really kind of you, but no, I'm OK for money."

"If that's so, why'd you leave your car on the side of the road?"

Chloe smiled, then laughed. "You got me there. I have enough to get where I'm going if I spend it wisely. But I do have a skill that can earn me some cash in a hurry if I need to."

Herbert lowers his glasses and looks her over speculatively, just as Chloe knew he would. "I can read palms, if I can find a place to do it where people are interested and willing to pay a few bucks," Chloe said artlessly.

His wife came out from behind the counter and sat down beside Chloe. "You psychic?"

"I wouldn't say that, but I have been told that I have a skill that is accurate beyond what anyone could think of as lucky or coincidence."

"What a bunch of hooey. Don't you pay her a dime Millie," Herbert instructed his wife.

Millie smiled at Chloe and held out her hand. "In 34 years of marriage, I ain't never done what he told me unless it was something I wanted to do or something that needed doing."

Chloe smiled and glanced over at Herbert, knowing that she'd captured the attention of everyone in the diner. "How about you give me a refill on my coffee, and if I'm right, a piece of that cherry pie?" Chloe offered.

Herbert grumped, but refilled Chloe's cup and stayed close enough to watch as Chloe took his wife's hand. Chloe had done her research and knew about some of the town's people. The diner was the center of society there, so she'd paid special attention to the owners in her research and between that and her Brainiac database of knowledge Chloe figured she could read a palm convincingly enough.

Chloe ran her fingers lightly over Millie's worn and lined hands. "This is your life line, nice and strong, you have years left in you. Here is your heart line, it runs strong and deep. You're loyal and when you've made a friend, you keep them."

"You're gonna have to do better than that if you want some of my pie, young'en," Herbert heckled Chloe.

"You had three children. Two boys and a girl. Your oldest stayed close to home, the youngest two yearned for adventure and tore outta town as soon as they were old enough." Millie looked fascinated and several of the other diners were smiling in wonder. "This town's been your home for years, and just like your friends you're loyal to it, but your children get their yearning for excitement from you. You've always dreamed of traveling the world, I'm thinking Paris." Chloe smiled and closed Millie's hand gently. "You'll get there. If the spirits are right, and they always are, sometime in the next year," Chloe prophesized.

Herbert dropped the plate he'd just cleared from another customer eating at the counter looking at Chloe in shock. "How'd you know that? No one knows…" he said in amazement.

"What? Herbert, did you… you did!" Millie exclaimed as she rounded the counter to give her husband a hug.

Herbert flushed, embarrassed at being caught out in his surprise so publically. "Our 35 anniversary is coming up, and I thought I'd finally take you on the honeymoon you dreamed about taking."

Chloe not only earned herself a piece of pie, but the offer of a room for the night if she'd stay and read palms at the town festival fundraiser for the local volunteer fire station the following day. Chloe said no at first, appearing reluctant, but finally agreed.

Millie and Herbert never knew how much they'd played into Chloe's hands. When Chloe had first arrived at the café they'd been bickering behind the counter about Lillian's mother, Adela, calling into a psychic hotline, the one that was always running on late night television. Herbert had called it a scam and a waste of money, but Millie had defended her friend, saying that the TV psychic had told Adela that her child was going through a tough time.

Chloe waited until she was safely behind closed doors before she leapt back to 2009 to ramp up her research into the town's people, knowing that Millie would call her good friend to tell her all about the exciting new addition to the town festival. Chloe was never more grateful for her enhanced memory as she memorized facts from the past, present, and future along with the faces of a small town. She was going to give the town a show like they'd never seen and hopefully, cement the idea that Lillian Luthor was in trouble in her mother's mind.

When Adela Walton finally sat down at Chloe's table the next evening, Chloe had become the main attraction at the fundraiser. Adela reached out her hand dropping a ten dollar bill in Chloe's glass jar. Chloe took her hand carefully, ready to deliver the performance of a lifetime. "You aren't from here, you come from a great city surrounded by water."

"Yes that's right, I grew up and spent most of my life in Metropolis."

"Shh, Adela, you aren't supposed to tell her that, make her earn her money," one of the young volunteer firemen teased, happy enough to have a pretty addition to the night's festivities as well as half of what was in her jar at the end of the night for their fire station.

Chloe smiled, and shot an arch look at the young firefighter. "Keep it up, pal. I didn't mention that I have a friend who can put hexes on people, did I?" The towns people laugh, hoping that she is joking, but more willing to believe than they'd been earlier in the night before she'd proven to be deadly accurate in her readings. Chloe turned back to Adela Walton, seeing the resemblance to Lillian Luthor. "You married young and had one child… no two. But only one grew to adulthood."

"Fever took my oldest when he was just a few months old."

"I'm sorry for your loss," Chloe offered, pushing down her guilt at fooling an old woman. "Your second child… a girl, her name begins with an L. Yes. I'm sure of it. The spirits are sending me strong warnings about her. She is in danger."

"From her husband?" Adela asked worriedly.

"The danger is from within. I'm sensing a great sadness, it is like a dark wave overtaking her. She is trapped in darkness. She will be lost and will take another with her, a new life."

"Is it too late?" Adela gasped, her face going white.

"No, There is time, if you act quickly."

Adela gasped. "Her name is Lillian, she just delivered our second grandson seven weeks ago."

Chloe dropped her hand, looking weary as if talking to the spirits had drained her strength. "You must go to her, or there will be disaster. Three lives lost in a moment of imprudence." Adela's face was deathly white by then, no doubt imaging her daughter and two grandsons. Chloe tried to soften the blow. "It's not too late. Light can conquer over dark, if there is a helping hand to hold onto in our darkest hours. Do not be discouraged by those who might stand in your way, you know what is right and are the only one who can hold a candle in the darkness for your child."

"_Those things which are precious are saved only by sacrifice."  
David Kenyon Webster (American US Army officer and Writer, )_

Chloe returned to Metropolis, feeling pretty bad about herself. She'd scared an old woman nearly to death, and if Lillian still took her son's life, the guilt wouldn't end with her.

Returning from 1992 Chloe found that she'd had some limited success again. The day after Chloe read Adela's palm, the Waltons had been on a plane to Metropolis. They hadn't wasted any time in getting to their daughter and grandsons at the Castle in Smallville, as revealed in car service records. Two days later, Lillian's father had leased a car and registered his address as Smallville.

Years later (2000) Lillian had given an interview at the time of Lionel's first conviction for corporate espionage which coincided with her filing for divorce. She'd had post partum depression and with the help of her parents and a dear friend, she's gotten help and medication to help her get through those difficult months. Lillian said that she'd done what she needed to for her youngest son, but had always regretted agreeing to give Lionel custody of Lex. She'd left Lionel in 1994, moving to Lionel's ranch house in Montana not far from her parents.

Chloe could only imagine that Lionel had cut a deal to let Lillian leave, that included keeping his heir apparent. Chloe felt sorrow that once again Lex was left behind. Looking closer Chloe found an interview with Lex after Lionel's second conviction, where he'd indicated that he'd made the deal with his father as 13 year old boy to let his mother leave with Julian.

Lex had spent summers with his mother, brother, and grandparents in Montana, but he'd spent the rest of his time with Lionel or at school. Lionel's history hadn't changed. Apparently whether his wife left him or died, and whether his second son lived or died had no impact on Lionel's path.

One thing had changed for Lex though- from paparazzi pictures Chloe could see he now dated blondes as well as brunettes and redheads. She smiled, hoping that having his mother alive had been enough to make Lex's life better, even if it hadn't been as large a change as Chloe had wanted for him.

CO-CO-CO

Ali's orientation at Met U had gone exceedingly well. Ali had met her new roommate, and had every expectation that they would get along. There were also several cute boys in the incoming freshman class, and a few had even talked to her. Most boys that she knew at home were either too respectful (because of her family) or wanted something from her beyond her friendship or affection (because of her family). Ali was aware that she'd likely face the same problem in Metropolis that she did in Star City once people realized who she was, but she hoped it would be to a lesser degree. Chloe being her first friend in Metropolis gave her hope. She just had to be careful.

Ali walked to the front of campus with a beaming smile on her face, not even minding, for once, the security following her. She would admit, grudgingly, that they did a good job of blending in. It wasn't like her childhood when black suited men with radios in their ears had followed her around playgrounds and friends' birthday parties. Ali thought enviously about Ollie's freedom from security and wished that the next four years until her 21st birthday would pass quickly.

Ali approached the fountain at the main pedestrian entrance to campus with a bounce in her step, she looked around anxiously for Chloe but didn't see her. Ali pulled out her phone to see if she'd missed a call or message, and saw she had a message from each of her parents, but none from Chloe.

Ali frowned and began to feel awkward. Chloe hadn't said much in their email exchanges in the last few weeks, and Ali began to doubt that she would show up.

A voice from behind her startled her, "Ali?"

Ali turned quickly to see a tall well built man standing before her. Her security moved in closer, ready to get between her and the guy or grab her and go. "Uh… yeah?" she squeaked, intimidated by his size and how pretty he was.

"I'm Clark. A friend of Chloe's. She's running late." When Ali kept staring at him blankly, Clark rambled on, looking with caution at the security surrounding them. "You are Ali right? A friend of Chloe's? She said a pretty blonde girl about five foot eight…" Clark looked around the area for another girl matching that description.

"Yeah, I'm Ali. Chloe said I was pretty?" She smiled up at Chloe's friend in happiness.

"Chloe got caught by her journalism professor, she'll be along in a few minutes I'm sure. He wanted to congratulate her on her story in the DP."

"That's awesome. Chloe is so great. Are you her boyfriend?" Ali asked guilelessly.

"No, I mean, we were, but not anymore, not for a long time. We're friends," he said awkwardly. "Good friends."

"OK," Ali said dreamily.

"Um, so… it was nice to meet you," Clark stammered.

"You too," Ali agreed, thinking how much she was going to enjoy college here if all boys looked like Chloe's friends.

Clark nodded and turned to walk away, but caught sight of Chloe approaching. "There she is."

Ali smiled and turned her head to see Chloe jogging towards her. "So sorry I'm late, I got held up, I hate being late," Chloe rushed to apologize.

"I'm just glad you're here now," Ali said, folding Chloe into a hug. Chloe hugged her back easily, happy to see Ali again even if her resemblance to Oliver made a fist tighten around Chloe's chest each time she saw her. "What time is it? Oh my God we have to go, we have reservations." Ali said, pulling Chloe along to the car that had been waiting at the curb.

"Reservations?" Chloe frowned, "I thought we were just getting lunch?"

"We are," Ali confirmed, but failed to give any more details, instead talking Chloe's ear off about her day so far. "And then this guy named Derek came up to me, and oh my God he was so cute Chloe, and he wanted to talk to me. He asked what dorm I was staying in and everything… My roommate seems OK. She has these crazy red and purple streaks in her hair, but that's cool, right? Do you think my parents would freak if I put colors in my hair? I've heard it's hard to get color out of blonde hair. Have you ever colored your hair?..."

Ali kept up a steady stream of mostly one sided conversation until they arrived at the restaurant a small elegant establishment that Chloe had never heard of. "You're going to love the food here, my parents swear they serve the best steak they've ever had," Ali said while leading Chloe into the restaurant, not stopping at the maitre'd stand.

"Your parents?" Chloe said hesitantly.

"Yeah, they can't wait to meet you," Ali bubbled happily, grabbing Chloe's hand to hurry her along.

As they approached a large round table Chloe slowed down, feeling as if she were about to faint as she saw Laura, Robert, and Oliver Queen already seated there. All three stood up to greet them as Chloe's stunned gaze went from one Queen to the other, finally landing on Oliver and snapping to attention as she registered his watchful expression.

"Mom, Dad, this is Chloe Sullivan. Chloe these are my parents, Robert and Laura Queen. And you already know Ollie," Ali introduced artlessly. Chloe forced herself to smile and move close enough to accept their outreached hands.

"Chloe… so nice to finally meet you. Ali speaks so highly of you," Robert said warmly, taking her hand and shaking it, but also giving her hand a tight squeeze.

"You too, Mr. Queen. And Mrs. Queen, you have a great daughter," Chloe offered politely.

Laura took Chloe's hand in both of hers, holding Chloe's hand longer than was called for by the supposed occasion. "Chloe, please call me Laura," she invited.

"Actually, brat," Oliver finally spoke, "Chloe and I weren't properly introduced before. Oliver Queen. Nice to meet you again Ms. Sullivan." He held out his hand and as he half expected Chloe looked reluctant to take it. Finally she took his hand, shaking it quickly and dropping it as if it was a hot coal.

The waiter appeared holding out a chair for Ali while Robert did the same for Laura and Oliver pulled back Chloe's chair for her. He watched as once again interesting shades of red and white chased their way across her cheeks, just as they had when she'd entered the dining room to see his parents sitting there.

An awkward silence filled the table as Ali busied herself with the menu, and the Queens looked at Chleo with awe. Chloe glanced around searching for something to break the silence. She noted a sixth place setting at the table. "Are we waiting for someone else?"

"No, we should get started," Oliver denied. "You seemed surprised to see my parents, Ms. Sullivan."

Chloe jerked as if his addressing her was startling. For Chloe's part, hearing him address her as Ms. Sullivan was very disorienting, but was also keeping it straight in her mind that he was not her Ollie. "I am, I was. I thought I was just having lunch with Ali," she finally responded.

"Sorry Chloe, I thought I told you. I had hoped I could convince them to stay home and let me come alone, but no-oo…" Ali said in an exaggerated exasperated tone, smiling at her parents, who broke their staring at Chloe to look at their daughter.

"Wait until it's your turn to send you child off to college alone, Ali, it's harder than you think," Laura said easily, but here eyes were glued to Chloe again by the end of her statement, a fact that Oliver did not miss.

CO-CO-CO

Chloe had never been so glad to see a waiter and took her time to order and ask questions about the menu, hoping to put off any further conversation with the Queens. As the waiter finally left, Chloe glanced around the table again noting how all the Queens were watching her. She smiled tentatively at Robert and Laura, but skipped her gaze over Oliver quickly. She cleared her throat. "So, Ali seems excited to attend Met U," Chloe said generally.

Ali burst back into speech, telling Chloe how excited she was and thanking her parents for letting her come.

"What happened to change your mind about Ali attending Met U?" Chloe asked the Queens in her version of small talk, which included keeping the topic firmly on Ali.

"Alicia was very persistent, and-" Robert started.

"And I'll be here at least part time to look in on her," Oliver finished.

Chloe froze, then turned her head slowly to meet Oliver's eyes for the first time that afternoon. "That's nice," she forced out past a lump in her throat.

"Is it?" Oliver asked pointing out her lack of enthusiasm. He sat back in his chair the picture of casual, relaxed elegance, but his hawk-like gaze reminded her not to be fooled by his playboy attitude. "I'll be expanding QIs interest in this region while Ali is here. Renovations are already under way at the new offices. Maybe you know it, the Clock Tower downtown?" Oliver asked, his eyes still focused on Chloe.

Chloe nodded, not responding verbally. Of course Oliver was taking over the Clock Tower. Even the one-night-stand version of Oliver had had an affection for the old building. She'd stood on the balcony of his hotel room with him while he told her all about the history of clock towers in cities around the world.

"I guess that means we'll be seeing more of each other," Oliver baited her, still not sure why Chloe seemed so put off by him.

Ali glared at her brother, "Not that Ollie is going to be all aggressive and up in my grill. He promised."

"I don't get that expression. Up in my grill. Is it a reference to braces?" Laura Queen mused, trying to break the tension at the table.

"Mom," Ali whined.

"I think it's rapper's gold teeth, not braces," Chloe offered with a slight smile.

"Gold teeth? Good grief."

They all laughed and Chloe was relieved when Oliver's attention was diverted to his phone. Her relief was short lived when a gorgeous woman entered the room and made a beeline for their table. "Oliver, Mr. and Mrs. Queen, my apologies for my tardiness," the woman gushed.

Chloe felt like she'd been hit with a two-by-four as Oliver stood to greet his girlfriend with a light kiss. Ali wrinkled her nose and turned away from her brother and his newest girlfriend. "So I was thinking… that you could stay in the hotel with me? For real this time, since Ollie can't scare you off again." Ali asked Chloe with wide eyed hopefulness.

Chloe swallowed down the lump in her throat that seeing Oliver with another woman had forced up. "Oh, um, I… I don't really like hotels," Chloe said lamely.

Laura Queen looked at Chloe with sympathy, knowing how Chloe must be feeling. First they'd ambushed her then Oliver's flavor of the week had shown up.

"I can understand that, I always prefer to sleep in my own bed," Laura supported Chloe's statement.

Ali looked crushed, and Chloe smiled at the young girl. "Maybe… My cousin is out of town visiting her family, so if you wanted, you could stay with me, there's even a free bed," Chloe offered, and was rewarded by Ali's smile.

"Really? That'd be awesome."

"If you parents don't mind," Chloe said.

"Of course not," Robert chimed in quickly, earning a frown from Oliver.

"Ali has security. They'd have to check your building and stick around. It'd be easier if you just stayed at the hotel," he said in a hard tone.

"Back off Ollie, I already have two parents, maybe you've met them," Ali said with tons of attitude.

Chloe couldn't help but laugh, but tried to cover it with a cough as the older Queens frown at Ali in reprimand.

"Ali. That is no way to speak to your brother, even if he is being a jerk," Laura said, assuming her position of peacekeeper in the family. "And Oliver, if the building is unsafe, then we'll deal with it then."

Ali fumed at Oliver for a moment longer, then turned to her father. "Daddy, do you think the restaurant will make us cotton candy to go?"

All the Queens look confused by the change in topic, even more so as Chloe and Ali begin to laugh.

CO-CO-CO

Chloe's sleepover with Ali went well, and they'd even invited one of her security guards inside if he agreed to let Ali paint his nails. Chloe realized that in her life she'd missed out on sleepovers by having boys as her best friends. It was nice, and very girly. The night involved, gossiping, manicures and pedicures, chocolate, and romantic comedies. Chloe was fairly amused when Ali worked up the courage to ask about Clark.

"Sorry kiddo, he's taken. He's dating my cousin."

"No way, that's so wrong," Ali said loyally.

"Actually it's about as right as you can get. They're good together, and he and I are better as friends."

Ali's mouth fell open. "Seriously? You look at… that… and you think friend?" Ali asked incredulously.

Chloe laughed, "Yeah, sorry to disappoint."

"So he's not the guy who broke your heart?" Ali asked with concern coloring her tone.

Chloe smiled, but it was sad. "No." She forced herself to say in the present with Ali, not get lost in memories and regrets. "Now, how about some hot chocolate?"

CO-CO-CO

A few weeks later, Chloe opened the door one evening looking a bit flushed and harassed. "Mrs. Queen…"

"I think you can call me Laura, Chloe. We may not know each other well, but I think that will change."

"Ah…" Chloe sighed with reluctance as she let the older woman enter her apartment. "Laura… Ali is my friend, but that's about as close as our… acquaintance is going to go."

Chloe can't hold Oliver's mother's gaze and looked away, her eyes widening as she sees the time on a wall clock. "Oh God, is it eight already?" Chloe asked in a panic. She looked around frantically and grabbed a cup of coffee from the kitchen counter and took a drink before she began pulling items out of a large casual purse on the counter and moving them into a smaller evening bag.

Lois emerged from the apartment's hallway. "Chlo, here is my red make-them-beg-lipstick. You can thank me later." Lois stopped short seeing an unfamiliar older woman standing in her living room. "Who are you?"

"Lois, this is Laura Queen. Ali's mother. Mrs. Queen, this is my cousin Lois," Chloe made the introduction, stressing that Laura was Ali's mother.

Lois stared down her cousin. "Oliver's mother. Nice to meet you. Maybe you could give me an interview? And just so we're all on the same page, I know about you and Chloe and Oliver and that time travel is, in fact, possible. Well, I'll leave you two alone. I have my own date tonight." Lois bustles out of the apartment.

Laura Queen turns to Chloe, appearing concerned. "You have a date." It is not a question.

Chloe turned slowly and Laura realized that Chloe was more dressed up than she usually saw her. "I do. I… I need to move on, make a life for myself here." Chloe forced a smile and Laura could see the strain on the younger woman's face. "I wanted this, and I accept it. But it's hard. I feel like a stranger in my own life. I need to make this work, because this time I'm sticking around."

"I forget that all this changed for you just a few months ago. For us it was years," Laura said sympathetically. She reached out a hand and rested it on Chloe's arm. "Don't give up on him yet, Chloe."

Chloe's heart clenched and she had to force down a lump in her throat. "He's a good man. Your son. But he's not my Oliver." Chloe's lips trembled and Laura's heart went out to the girl who had loved her son enough to give him up.

A knock sounded on the door and Chloe looked like a deer caught in the headlights. "That's my date. He's a resident at Met Gen, I think he's a good man too. I think…" Chloe laughed and it was both awkward and bittersweet. "He doesn't seem to have the doctor ego anyway."

Laura nodded slowly. "You're a smart woman, Chloe, I'm sure he's worthy if you think he is. I wish you only the best that the world has to offer." Chloe stilled and looked at the woman before her. "I can never thank you enough for what you've done. But you'll forgive me if I don't give up on the idea of you and my son being together. Maybe not today or tomorrow. But someday."

Chloe couldn't help but smile at her stubbornness. "I think your son definitely took after you, Mrs. Queen."

"I think that he does," Laura agreed, not calling attention to the fact that Chloe had referred to Oliver in the past tense. She understood that the Oliver that Chloe had loved, was different than her son. A second knock sounds. "Maybe someday you can tell me about him. Your Oliver."

Chloe tensed up but nodded. "Maybe I will."

Chloe opened the door to a tall man with sandy brownish-blonde hair. He was tall and dressed well, clearly a few years older than Chloe, who was only three years older than Laura's daughter. Laura smiled, looking polished and sophisticated. She walked to the door and opening it farther, smiled at Chloe's date. "My apologies. I've made Chloe late. I'll see you again soon, Chloe." The man appeared confused and Laura brushed past him to leave.

"Was that your mother?" he asked Chloe.

"No, a friend's mother. She stopped by to…" Chloe stopped when she realized she didn't know why Laura Queen had shown up. "Should we go?" Chloe didn't want to answer questions about who Laura was, as Oliver's mother or as the matriarch of the billionaire Queen family.

* * *

-AN Words 5932. I don't know that this chapter is going to give you guys as much Chlollie progress as you want, but I need to set the stage… don't worry the story is much more about Chloe and the Queens from here on out.


	10. Ch10: The Green Arrow

**Ch. 10: The Green Arrow**

Throughout July and August, the Metropolis press was full of sightings of Oliver Queen, an eligible bachelor many times richer than Metropolis's own Lex Luthor and reported to be much more charming. Chloe didn't want to follow Oliver in the news, but she did want to know where he was spending his time in town so she could be sure to never cross his path.

Chloe steered clear of the Clock Tower, making sure that her route to the Daily Planet was completed on streets that kept her as far as possible from the Clock Tower which was a short eight blocks from the DP building. She avoided the restaurants he was mentioned as being at. She declined her friends' offers to go dancing at the Ace of Clubs, because Oliver reportedly frequented the club.

As close as she'd let herself get to him was Metro Café which was two blocks from the Daily Planet. Unfortunately those two blocks were towards the Clock Tower, but she wasn't giving up her coffee or her café for him.

It was there Chloe had the misfortune of running into him the first week of August.

She'd known her luck would run out eventually. Ali was due to arrive in Metropolis in ten days, and Chloe had no intention of avoiding Ali, so she resigned herself to having to see Oliver eventually. She just hadn't been prepared for eventually coming so soon.

"_Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve,  
too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity." Henry Van Dyke_

Chloe had already been having a tough day. At 5am Clark had arrived for what Chloe had come to refer to as 'the hour of torture'. Once a week Chloe and Clark went running together. Apparently it was something Chloe had taken up in high school. According to Lois, Chloe had declared that if she was going to run for her life so often she should be better at it. Somehow necessity had turned into routine. Chloe refused to consider the idea that she'd come to enjoy it.

She had a pretty firm idea that she'd taken up running and Clark had taken up run-stalking her to keep her safe, and eventually once she'd been aware of him, they'd started to run together. But even in this reality, Clark refused to tell Lois the truth about himself, so Chloe had a secret to keep from Lois again.

Chloe hated running. She regarded it as torture, one of the rings of hell. But the Chloe Sullivan that had grown up in this timeline loved it. She'd run a marathon for God's sake. Chloe had tried to get out of their weekly 'date', she'd tried desperately. But eventually Clark had gotten suspicious. That was after he'd gotten his feelings hurt.

Apparently the one hour a week on Wednesday mornings was "their thing." It didn't change regardless of who was dating who, if they'd had a fight or if it was finals week. The only thing that stopped them was Chloe being in the hospital or one of them being out of town. So Clark had arrived, bright eyed and bushy tailed and Chloe had reluctantly pulled herself out of bed to run with her best friend (and ex-boyfriend in this reality).

By 6:45am Chloe was bitter, sore, and not looking forward to her walk to work or any stairs that might be in her path that day. Clark of course was not phased in the least. Each week it got easier, but not any more enjoyable for Chloe. But she was at least getting stronger, faster, and had even lost a few pounds. Chloe really didn't know what Clark got out of it, since she couldn't talk while running.

Lois told her that if she did it at least twice a week it would get better, but Chloe's response to that suggestion was executed with the waving on one opinionated finger at her cousin. "Hey at least you're getting a tighter ass from it," Lois said with a slap on the body part in question. "But now that I think about it, I don't want my boyfriend running behind you for an hour each week looking at all your ba-donk-a-donk."

Chloe ignored Lois, as was often the most prudent plan, and focused on work as she hobbled to the shower. She'd spent the last two weeks developing a relationship with a source, a secretary in the mayor's office. Chloe knew there was something fishy going on between a developer and the mayor's staff. A large subdivision had been approved on some prime farmland east of the city, in an area that had been zoned agriculture use, but was scheduled to be converted to open space as a bird flyway and marshland. Chloe had an appointment to meet with the woman the day before, but she hadn't shown. Chloe had called and left messages, but hadn't heard anything back.

It had been almost 24 hours. Worried that something had happened to her source, Chloe had waited outside the woman's apartment building, and been relieved to see the woman exit dressed for work, looking healthy if a bit anxious.

"Ruth," Chloe called, but the woman hurried faster on her way to the bus stop, looking fearfully over her shoulder briefly at Chloe. "Ruth, it's Chloe, I just want to make sure you're alright." Chloe called out, trying to pitch her voice low enough so that not everyone on the busy sidewalk could hear her.

Ruth kept running from Chloe, who finally managed to catch her at the door of her bus. "Ruth, what's going on?" Chloe asked in concern.

"Just leave me alone, alright, you've gotten me into enough trouble already!" Ruth exclaimed.

"Ruth, tell me what happened. Did someone try to scare you?"

"Try to scare me?" Ruth said with anxiety bordering on hysteria. "They sent me pictures of my sister and nephew. Pictures with bull's-eyes on their heads. I'm done. I don't care about a bunch of houses or birds or bribes even. I don't care. Just leave me alone."

Chloe had stood at the curb watching her source and her story disappear. Walking back towards the Daily Planet Chloe had pondered her options, trying to find another way to get independent verification of the bribe. Needing a fresh cup of coffee to clear her thinking and hopefully land at a solution, Chloe headed to Metro Café. If Oliver had been there when she arrived she would have turned around and left, coffee be damned. Instead Chloe had already placed her order, paid and was waiting for her mocha when she heard a familiar voice over her shoulder.

"Ali said you are a coffee aficionado. Should I assume that you being here means I found a good place?" Oliver asked from close over her shoulder.

He was curious how she would react to him. None of her reactions to date- to him or his parents made much sense to Oliver. They were all slightly off, and hinted at a back-story that Oliver wasn't privy to, but he wanted to be. He watched as her back stiffened and she took her time turning around to face him.

"Mr. Queen," she said with no trace of pleasure in her tone.

"Ms. Sullivan," he replied, matching her gravitas. He raised one eyebrow, clearly amused by her, and smiled easily, waiting for what she'd do next. Oliver placed even odds on her running away or saying something benign to shut down any further conversation.

"The coffee is excellent here, but you don't drink coffee so it hardly matters. I've heard they have a good selection of teas, but I can't speak to that from personal experience."

Oliver smiled easily, and Chloe mashed her lips together in what could be construed as a smile, if Oliver hadn't seen a real Chloe Sullivan smile directed at Ali. He looked on the verge of laughter but Chloe ignored him and visibly looked relieved to hear the barista call her name.

Chloe turned to pickup her coffee and ground her teeth together when the bartender mouthed "wow, hot" at her with a smile and a look at Oliver. Chloe quickly grabbed her coffee and was intent on making her escape, vowing silently to find a new coffee shop in the opposite direction of the Clock Tower, prior claim be damned, when Oliver wrapped his long fingers around her arm, steering her towards a pair of high backed green velvet chairs.

Even as she was annoyed by his high handedness, she had to repress a smile that he gravitated to the green chairs. "You're not in a rush are you? Good," he continued before she could open her mouth. "I feel like we should get to know each other better."

"Why?" Chloe asked plainly even as she let him guide her into the chair.

"You and Ali are friends," he explained simply.

"And you '_get to know'_ all her friends?" Chloe asked skeptically, managing to insinuate that his interest in Ali's teenage girl friends was somehow questionable.

"Not all of them," Oliver replied, sitting back and taking a moment to examine her again. She really was pretty. Nice body too. When his eyes moved back up to her face he realized he'd been caught looking, and was surprised to see that her expression was not a murderous look of wounded female empowerment, but rather one of amused derision. Oliver shrugged it off and pursued his original goal.

"So tell me about yourself, Chloe, and feel free to call me Oliver."

"We won't be seeing much of each other, so I won't need to call you anything. And I'm sure the background check you ran on me reveled all you need to know about me."

"Facts, dates, some interesting, some not. I'm more interested in the things a background check can't uncover." Oliver didn't bother trying to deny that he'd run a check on her.

"Being friends with your sister doesn't entitle you to pry into my life. I understand the need to make sure she's safe, but I'm hardly a danger to her."

"You're not likely to be a criminal, I'll give you that. But you are a journalist."

"Ali wants to be a journalist too," Chloe replied indignantly on behalf of her chosen profession.

"But she's not trying to weasel info out of an innocent young girl to make her name in the business," Oliver said casually, as if he were discussing the weather, and not accusing Chloe of shady tactics and tabloid journalism.

Chloe didn't honor his insult with a reply, standing up jerkily to leave, but she found her path blocked by Oliver who maneuvered out of his chair much more gracefully than she had managed. "Don't run off, we're just getting started."

"I don't think so. If I'm going to be insulted, I'd prefer it be for something I was actually guilty of. Good afternoon, Mr. Queen." She tried to move around him, but he easily held her in place with a light hand on her hip.

"Do you really expect me to believe that you didn't know who Ali was, when you clearly recognized me right off the bat?" Oliver challenged.

"I don't really care what you believe." Chloe pushed his hand away from her, feeling a surge of emotion and hurt at his touch. She wanted to leave it at that, but found that she didn't want to risk Oliver interfering with her friendship with his sister. "You're in the tabloids constantly, of course I recognized you."

"But somehow you didn't know who Ali was?"

"She's not in the tabloids as far as I know, I only see the covers as I walk past," Chloe said with a tight smile. "I like Ali, she's a good kid, and seems like she could use a friend. I have no intention of hurting her, but neither will I stand around and be insulted by you. I don't owe you anything. Ali and your parents seem satisfied with who I am, and my relationship with her."

"Funny that you should mention my parents," Oliver pounced on her words. "It sure seemed like you knew them, and they knew you, yet that was supposed to be your first meeting. And Ali was in the papers a lot after she was kidnapped."

"That was years ago, she hardly looks the same." Chloe wasn't lying. Ali looked completely different now than the meek and skinny girl who'd been photographed returning to school months after her ordeal.

"And my parents?"

"Nope," Chloe denied blithely. "Though I would have to have been living under a rock not to recognize them," Chloe said in a polished answer that Oliver knew was a lie. "Now, as pleasant as this has been," she said with thick sarcasm, "I have to go. Thank you though for making my day that much worse. I'll look forward to never having another of these tête-à-têtes with you."

There was something there, and while she may have won this battle, Oliver intended to win the war. When it came to his family, he left nothing to chance. He watched her leave, not realizing that he'd given her the perfect excuse to avoid him in the future. If Ali asked Chloe would have her reason for not liking her brother at the ready.

CO-CO-CO

The next day Mornings in Metropolis, the number one morning show in the market, reported sightings of a new hero in town. A man dressed in green leather carrying a bow had rescued two teenagers on a date from being carjacked. Lois was hot on the story, wanting to spin it to see if she could get the Blur or the new hero to talk to her, but Chloe steered clear.

A week later Chloe was helping Ali put up posters in her dorm room, offering to meet Ali on campus for a standing weekly coffee date. Ali eagerly accepted and Chloe wanted so badly to just be able to look into Ali's brain and find out why she seemed so grateful for any small kindnesses.

Chloe frowned at the girl. "Ali… you don't have to thank me. I'm getting something out of it too." Ali's face fell and Chloe knew that Ali's confidence issues wouldn't be solved any quicker than Chloe's own were. "I get to hang with you and drink coffee, I don't need anything more."

Ali's face lightened, and she went back to questioning Chloe about her life, college and if Chloe thought Ali should pledge any sororities.

CO-CO-CO

"_There is no pain equal to that which two lovers can inflict on one another.  
This should be made clear to all who contemplate such a union.  
The avoidance of this pain is the beginning of wisdom,  
for it is strong enough to contaminate the rest of our lives." Cyril Connolly_

Ali was fascinated by the idea of the Daily Planet, so Chloe decided to give her a tour before school started. Telling Ali to meet her outside the venerable old publication's offices at 9pm on night, Chloe was satisfied that most the reporters had left the building or were working late on stories and wouldn't spare much more than a glance for Ali.

Ali looked awed at the whole operation and gushed about Chloe having her own desk. As they left the newspaper offices, Ali walked towards the Clock Tower and Chloe slowed to a stop.

"School's that way," Chloe said lightly, pointing the opposite direction.

Ali's eyes widened. "Oh, I hoped you wouldn't mind stopping by Oliver's, he brought a few more of my things from home last night."

Chloe tried not to cringe and walked towards the Clock Tower, already being called Queen Tower by much of Metropolis, as if facing the executioner. Arriving at their destination, Chloe refused point blank to go upstairs.

"But…"

"No, sorry Ali… I can't," Chloe said carefully. "It has nothing to do with you, but your brother and I are…" Chloe made a grim face and shook her head. "Is he always such a pompous ass?" Chloe asked laying the groundwork but also using humor to lessen the look of upset on Ali's face.

"What did he do? Oh my God, did he hit on you? Of course he did, look at you, and you're great. I mean it would mean his taste is improving, but God! You're my friend and…"

Chloe can't help but smile at Ali's rant. "No, but thanks for thinking I'm such a catch. He… he thinks I'm using you." Ali looked concerned. "He thinks I'm going to use anything you tell me to write a story on your family."

"But you're not. I mean, I couldn't really blame you, but you… you're not like that. Right?" Ali started off strong but was clearly second guessing herself but the end.

"Of course not Ali. We're friends, and friends don't do that to each other. Anything you say to me stays between us. Oliver is just being protective of you, I get that."

"Overprotective," Ali huffed. "I can't believe you really don't like him. Everyone likes him. It's like he's… chocolate. Especially to women. Women love him. Even my friends. Even my mom's friends!" Ali said with a twisted laugh.

Chloe worded her response very carefully. "He is pretty, that's undeniable," she started, earning a grin from Ali, "But I prefer my men with a bit more… humility."

"Well at least I don't have to worry about you dating him and then us not being friends anymore when you breakup." Ali hugged Chloe impulsively. "I'm sorry for whatever he said or did. He can be a… what did you call him? Pompous jerk." Ali pulled back and walked towards to doors to the lobby. "I suppose if he wasn't arrogant he'd be about perfect and then it would _really_ suck to be me."

"Ali…what do you mean by that?" Chloe asked, sensing some import to the teenager's words.

"Just, you know, that it's hard to live up to being _Alicia Queen, daughter of Robert and Laura, sister of Oliver_," Ali says in a deep tone, affecting regal importance. "I think people expect me to look like them, or at least like Ollie's girlfriends, but I'm just me, and I don't… you know." Chloe shook her head, denying understanding. "Measure up. I mean, look at me, I'm hardly the beauty queen or super model type." Ali smiled sadly but disappeared inside the building before Chloe could rebut her words.

Chloe frowned. Ali was a beautiful girl, she was still carrying what people called 'baby weight' but she was hardly overweight or even pudgy. She was tall, blonde, beautiful, sweet, and had bone structure that women would kill for, but someone she saw herself as lacking. The ugly duckling in a family full of swans.

CO-CO-CO

Chloe wasn't able to avoid Oliver entirely. Ali had banned him from campus, but she saw her brother regularly, and Oliver often dropped Ali off at Chloe's apartment. Chloe knew he made it a point to bring Ali and pick her up, when her security could have watched over her just as easily, but Oliver insisted. The first time Chloe opened to door to find a knowing smile on Oliver's face she had to use all her willpower to resist shutting the door in his face again.

"I'm here to pick up Ali," he said, earning a sour look Chloe. When she just stood in the doorway staring at him he grinned and stepped into her space forcing her to step back or press up against him. She stepped back.

Ali looked up at her brother with a frown from her position sitting on the floor of Chloe and Lois's living room surrounded by photos and Chloe's old yearbooks. "Is it 3 already?" She asked, looking disoriented. She glanced over at a room clock and saw it was only 12:30. "Ollie, you're early," she said in complaint.

"I thought I could take you girls out to lunch," Oliver said easily, but Chloe heard the mocking in his tone even if Ali didn't. "Whatcha doing Queenie?"

The use of the nickname earned him an eye roll, but Ali held up a photo to Oliver. "I have to write a story for my English class, based on someone's real life. We have to turn in the real story and our creative version of it. Chloe's been telling me about Smallville and her high school."

Oliver nodded but his eyes were glued to the picture in his hand of Chloe and Lois grinning at the camera from what appeared to be a hospital bed. Chloe had a bandage on her forehead and her arm in a sling. Oliver held out his hand, and Ali obligingly handed him a few more pictures. He glanced at Chloe who appeared unhappy at his presence. Flipping through the photos briefly Oliver saw a few of Chloe with guys, and several of her with a large dark haired guy.

"We were going to order food in Ollie," Ali said dismissively.

"Perfect. I'll join you. What's on the menu, ladies?"

"I feel like Thai," Chloe drawled, knowing that her Oliver had disliked the sweetness of the coconut milk in some Thai food.

His smile fell for a moment and Chloe declared a silent victory. "Order me some pad thai," Ali asked absently. "I think I'll write my story about the time you were buried alive, Chloe. But only if you can get the police report, otherwise my professor will never believe it's true."

Ali's words caused Oliver to do a double take and he made a mental note to have Chloe's background researched more thoroughly, since it appeared she had quite a colorful background that had not been included in the report he'd received.

CO-CO-CO

"_You meet your destiny on the road you take to avoid it." Carl Jung_

Ali was a third of the way through her first semester at university when her parents came for a visit. Chloe knew about it for a few weeks in advance and had made plans to be out of town. She had an childhood friend who was attending college in Gotham and Chloe called to set up a weekend trip.

Ali was disappointed when Chloe said she wouldn't be able to have dinner with Ali's family, but she recovered quickly. Chloe had quickly become one of her best friends, and in Ali's eyes Chloe could do no wrong.

Three days before the Chloe was scheduled to fly out of Metropolis, she got sick. Chloe kept telling herself that it was just a cold. Just a 24 hour thing. Just a little sniffling.

One day later she acknowledged that she was sick, but she was still determined to get out of town.

The next morning, Chloe gave up and canceled her flight. She was too sick to go anywhere, but at least that included dinner with the Queens. Leaving her last class of the week on Thursday afternoon, Chloe only wanted to get home and have an extended nap. Lois was supposed to spend the weekend at the Kent's farm with Clark, so Chloe would have peace and quiet.

A knock woke Chloe from her nap, and she rolled over, disoriented as she noticed it was dark outside, and having no idea what time, or even day, it was. The clock read 7: 48, and Chloe hefted herself out of bed, realizing that she felt better, but still tired. Dragging herself to the door she paused briefly in front of the mirror in the hallway to do a double take at her appearance. She was in pajamas, a tank top and flannel pajamas that rode low on her hips, her hair was sticking up, her nose bright red, and her face pale and wan looking. She shrugged and tried to smooth down her hair a little, not putting in much effort since it was likely just her neighbor at the door.

A single mother lived next door with her son, and he and Chloe had gotten into a conversation about school one day and Chloe had been loaning him her books to read ever since. He was twelve going on thirty, and he wouldn't care what Chloe looked like as long as she had the copy of Brave New World, like he'd requested. Chloe detoured to the kitchen counter to grab the book she'd left there for him and finally made it to the door just as a second knock sounded.

"I'm coming Javi…" Chloe said with good humor and a smile. Opening the door, she disengaged the safety chain without thought and opened the door to find a large dark suited Hispanic man at the door. Chloe started, and was trying to decide how to react when he stepped aside and revealed Laura Queen was standing behind him. She was dressed exquisitely, in what Chloe assumed was 'casual wear' for her, a navy classic cut blazer over a boat neck sheath dress with cap sleeves. Her hair and makeup were perfect and with her natural beauty, svelte body and height, Chloe instantly felt short, frumpy and decidedly lacking.

"Oh Chloe, good, I was getting worried," Laura said with relief, hugging Chloe firmly before sweeping past her into the apartment. "Ali said you were sick and home alone." Chloe watched with bemusement as Laura beckoned another guard inside, this one holding two paper shopping bags. "I wasn't sure what you'd like, so I got a few things."

The guard set down the bags and exited the apartment, closing the door behind him. Laura unpacked aroma therapy candles and oils, Theraflu, a box of Kleenex, a container of soup, some pasta, tea bags, honey and lemons, orange juice, crackers, a loaf of bread, and several pieces of fruit. "Ali wasn't clear on whether you had a cold or the flu so I wasn't sure what to bring."

Done unpacking Laura looked at Chloe, expecting a reply. "Chloe?" Laura strode towards Chloe pressing her hand to Chloe's forehead to feel for a fever.

Chloe smiled, realizing that this is what having a mother would have been like. "I'm fine. Honestly. It was a cold, but I'm feeling better already."

"Honestly, I'm just a _bit_ glad to find that you really are sick. The thought crossed my mind that you might be avoiding us," Laura said casually, but her eyes watched Chloe and saw the truth to her statement. "Chloe… I… Robert keeps telling me I need to let you decide if you want to see us, but I just can't let it go. I've been waiting nearly 20 years to see you again. I have so many questions, not that you have to answer, you don't owe us anything, in fact we owe you. I know that you said not to try to find you before…"

"But you did anyway," Chloe said plainly.

"Well, yes." Laura said with the same smile that Oliver used when he'd done something wrong and gotten caught. It was so full of charm and likability that Chloe would have had a hard time staying angry if she had been angry that the Queens had done exactly as they'd warned them not to do. "What I guess I need to know now is if you meant for us to stay away now, or just in your past," a V formed between Laura's eyebrows, as she looked confused for a moment. "This is all very unusual."

Chloe barked out a laugh then groaned and moved to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of orange juice.

"If your throat is soar, you should have some tea with honey and lemon. Here, I'll make it," Laura pushed Chloe down to sit at the bar stools at the counter that fulfilled the requirement for seated eating, the only other flat spaces in the room were Chloe's desk and the coffee table, both of which were covered with papers and books.

Chloe watched Laura tisk and bemoan the lack of a proper teapot but she made due. "Mrs. Queen-"

"Laura, please, I'm hoping we can be friends, Chloe."

"Laura, I would like to know you but I think… it's difficult. Oliver is asking questions, and I don't want Ali to think I'm friends with her to get to you, which Oliver already suspects is the case."

"Ignore him, he doesn't know anything and we aren't going to tell him. If you chose to, well, that might be better in the long run, but…"

"Wait, please. There is no long run. I would like to get you know you and Robert. I've heard so much about you, from my Oliver and Ali, but Oliver… that's not something… I just can't. I can't look at him without seeing my Oliver, and until I can, I can't be around him, I can't be his… anything. It's just too hard."

Laura frowned. "I suppose I can understand that. Perhaps you can come to visit us in Star City with Ali sometime soon and I'll make sure Oliver is occupied elsewhere. And I will make sure he gets over his ridiculous idea that you might be out to hurt us somehow."

Chloe couldn't help but smile and laugh at Laura's confidence in her ability to manipulate Oliver to her will.

Laura stayed a bit longer, and Chloe enjoyed talking to her, though they kept the conversation in the present and most recent past. Chloe told Laura about her most recent trip to the past.

"That's extraordinary. We're alive, Ali is here, and now Lillian and Julian Luthor are alive too, because of you. You are an extraordinary woman Chloe Sullivan."

When Laura saw Chloe yawn she quickly packed up her purse and said her goodbyes.

Chloe sat back on the couch, and turned the TV on low, smiling about her visit with Oliver's mother. He had been so like her, Chloe smiled at her memories, and for the first time, tears didn't fill her eyes and she wasn't overwhelmed by grief as thoughts of him filled her mind.

Not even ten minutes later another knock sounded and Chloe frowned, wondering who it was, but certainly didn't expect to find Robert Queen at her door. His security stood behind him and secured the hallway as Chloe blinked stupidly.

"Chloe… Ms. Sullivan… I'm sorry, I'm not sure what you want me to call you," he said.

"Chloe. Chloe is fine. Mr. Queen…" she shook her head slowly, then laughed lightly, and opened the door to him. "Come on in. You just missed your wife."

"I'm sorry, I told her not to come. Laura has a soft spot for you, as do I." He smiled at her softly, his eyes full of emotion, and again one of Oliver's parents brought Oliver so strongly to mind that Chloe was overcome. Her returning smile wobbled, then stabilized.

He stared at her until Chloe began to feel self conscious. "I'm sorry, I still find it all so amazing. It's really you and you look just the same. Just incredible."

"That is the consensus,," Chloe agreed.

"Chloe, and please call me Robert, I'm sorry for intruding in your evening, and I hope you are feeling better soon. Let me cut to the chase. As you know, Laura is very interested in you. She believes, quite rightly, that we owe you something. What I need to know from you is what you want from us."

Chloe felt like the air had been sucked out of her lungs. "Nothing."

"No, I didn't mean it like that. Let me apologize and begin again. Laura is interested in you. Ali loves you. Oliver is curious. And I would also like the opportunity to get to know you better. What I need to know is do you want us to stay away from you? I have to admit, I don't have a very firm hand with Ali in these matters, you may be stuck with her. But I can try to control Oliver and my wife."

"I love Ali, and I don't have a problem with getting to know you or Laura better, but I think you should just let Oliver alone. Trying to block him will only increase his curiosity."

Robert nodded in agreement. "It seems as if the man you knew is not so different from my son."

"No, not from what I've seen," Chloe agreed in barely more than a whisper.

"It's ridiculous, but I'm undeniably jealous that you got to know him. I know that I have my family, and Oliver here, but… you knew a version of my son that I never will." His face was full of emotion as he considered a past that he knew had existed, but was one he would never know, and the life he'd lived through an act of generosity and selflessness that he could never repay.

"He was… a lot like your son. Proud, headstrong. Sometimes he could be a bit of an ass," Chloe said, biting her lip and causing Robert to roar in laughter.

"God, yes. Well, that sets my mind at ease a bit. I'd wondered if I'd done something to make him too proud, too set in following his own opinion."

"He may have gotten it from you, but I think it's just a part of who he is. He was so proud of his heritage, the work you'd done, the life you'd lived. He wanted so badly to make you proud of him. But Oliver never needed anyone else to tell him what was right. He followed his own moral compass. Sometimes his choices were questionable, but his intentions were always good," Chloe said honestly.

"He was a good man, the Oliver you knew."

"Yes."

"But he was unhappy," Robert said, and Chloe stared at him in question. "If he'd been happy with his life you wouldn't have come back, you wouldn't have been motivated to give him up. It's clear how much you loved him."

"He… he had a darkness in him. He was always alone, after you died. He felt it deeply. There were other mistakes, other moments where fate or choice or circumstance offered him a road, and he took the darker path on more than one occasion, but he wasn't totally unhappy. He had purpose, drive, he lived."

CO-CO-CO

Much later that night a dark shadow stands over the couch in the girl's apartment where Chloe had fallen asleep. Dressed as the Green Arrow, Oliver shuts off the TV, stopping the light from flickering over Chloe's peaceful face. He saw a blanket in a basket by the TV and placed it over her sleeping form, wondering for the hundredth time what secrets she and his parents were keeping.

He'd had Bart, his speedy teammate, follow his parents after he'd left them at their hotel. They had tried to hide their reactions to Ali's report that Chloe was sick and wouldn't be joining them for dinner the following evening, but they'd failed.

Bart had reported that both his parents had made separate visits to Chloe that night, and both had stayed for some time.

Oliver had looked closer into Chloe's background, and knew now how many extraordinary events she'd been involved with. He'd researched the meteor rocks she'd written so much about in high school and his mind was still trying to grasp it all. Chloe Sullivan was no ordinary college girl. It appeared as if her meeting with Ali had been unplanned, sheer coincidence, but Oliver knew there was more to the story.

* * *

AN- How's this for some Chloe/Oliver interaction?

Words: 5965


	11. Ch11: Heroes and Exes

You guys really loved the last chapter if the reviews are anything to go by… Thanks to a comment by nyx'godness on FF I wrote how Oliver became GA in this reality. I had mentioned before the last chapter that Ollie was GA, but it wasn't highlighted and lots of you seemed happy to find out he had become GA. And on the side of the ridiculous… I had a word misspelled in the summary from the very beginning of this story…plant planet, what's the difference.

FYI: Oliver still works for QI and got a fair amount of inheritance when he turned 18 and again at 21 and 25 - so he has his own fortune to spend on his hobbies.

* * *

**Ch. 11: Heroes and Exes**

CO-CO-CO

The next day Chloe began to wonder if maybe she should call Robert Queen and take him up on his offer.

Chloe woke up on the couch, surprised that she wasn't cold. In fact she was quite comfortable. Sitting up she found that either she'd gotten up in the night and gotten a blanket or Clark had popped in to check on her. Chloe walked towards the coffee pot and once it was brewing, turned to open her refrigerator to find it full of the food Laura had delivered to her. Chloe smiled and pulled out some milk to add to her coffee and also a mango. Only a billionaire could find a mango in October in Kansas.

Chloe tried to cut it open how she'd seen Oliver do before but struggled to get the skin off without squeezing the tender fruit to death. Pouting at it she gave up and fixed herself a cup of coffee, she breathed in the heavenly aroma before letting the taste roll across her tongue like a welcome lover.

A knock sounded on the door and Chloe stood stock still. She had enjoyed visiting with the Queens, but she was afraid to open the door again. "Who is it?" she called out hesitantly. When she didn't receive a reply Chloe wasn't sure what to think. Another knock sounded. "I'm not opening the door until you tell me who you are."

"But you won't open the door once you know, either," Oliver's voice sounded confidently.

Chloe felt her heart race a little at the familiar timber, but that and some annoyance was the extent of her reaction to him. Deciding to test her newfound equilibrium with all things Queen she opened the door but stood in the doorway, clearly not willing to invite him in.

Oliver greeted her with a smile, "I guess I was wrong. You should invite me in."

"Why would I do that?" Chloe asked sweetly.

"Because I brought you breakfast and coffee. Your favorite." He could see her nose twitch as he waved the bag of food under her nose.

"You don't play fair," she grumbled but let him in. Leaving him to figure it out on his own, she retreated to her bedroom to brush her hair, teeth, and put on a bra.

Oliver was grinning at her when she reemerged a few minutes later, holding out a cup of coffee to her, and giving her body a sweeping look. "You don't look very sick," he commented.

"I'm feeling better," she grouched, taking the coffee, but didn't let her discontent with her visitor effect her enjoyment of the sweet caramel beverage.

"That's excellent, on behalf of my family, let me reinvite you to dinner this evening. I know Ali would be happy to see you there and my parents were _very concerned_ when she told us you were sick."

"That's sweet," Chloe said with eyes narrowed at Oliver. He was fishing, but what could he know? "But I'm just starting to feel better, I could still be contagious."

Oliver smiled, she wasn't going to tell him that his parents had each visited her. "We're a healthy lot, we'll risk it."

"It's not your decision to make," Chloe said with a mocking smile.

"I'm sure I can persuade you. But let's cut to the chase so I don't take up too much of your day. My parents would _love_ to see you, and I would hate to disappoint them. If it's me you're avoiding, I promise to be on my best behavior."

"I do like your parents, but my appetite hasn't really returned yet," Chloe's stomach turned traitor and grumbled at the smell of a variety of fresh baked muffins and bagels that Oliver had brought.

"How about you reconsider while I cut this mango for you, and while you're considering it, I should let you know that I don't intend to leave until I have your agreement."

"Has anyone ever told you 'no' before in your life?" Chloe said petulantly as he expertly sliced the mango.

"My mother and father all the time, others… not very much. Though I did have a very cranky fourth grade teacher," Oliver said with his most charming smile.

"No."

"Hmm, your choice. So do you have any movies here?" Oliver asked as he made himself comfortable on her couch.

"I can call the police."

"And tell them what? You let me in. I brought you food. Is kindness a crime?"

"Fine, knock yourself out," Chloe gave up. She grabbed a muffin and disappeared with it, the coffee and cut mango to her bedroom.

Shutting the door behind her, she counted to ten. Sitting on her bed, she picked up a piece of the mango and let it's sweetness mellow her mood. She heard the sound of the TV being turned on to some sporting event and frowned. Finishing her food she decided to take a shower.

Oliver was still there as she finished getting dressed a half hour later. Chloe opened her computer and began answering emails and researching her story on the mayor some more. When another knock sounded on the door, Chloe felt her heart jump into her throat. All she needed was to have Robert or Laura stop by while Oliver was there. Chloe rushed to door but Oliver beat her to it, opening it to find a young boy standing at the door with an eager expression. The boy and Oliver both frowned.

"Is Chloe here?" the boy said with a squeaky adolescent voice.

"Yes. Chloe, you have a visitor," Oliver called even though she was standing right beside him by that point.

"Javi, hey, I have the book, sorry it took me so long to find it," Chloe rushed to speech, walking into the kitchen to retrieve the book.

"Thanks Chloe, you're the best!" Javi said with stars in his eyes.

Oliver slanted an amused look at Chloe and wrapped his arm around her shoulders leaning in to nuzzle his mouth to her temple. "Aren't you going to introduce me sweetie?" he asked, his eyes full of laughter.

"No," Chloe said shortly, noticing Javi's crestfallen expression. "Javi, let me know when you finish this one, we can talk about it. I really think you're going to enjoy it."

The boy nodded looking hopeful again but with another glance at Oliver turned and shuffled away. Oliver shut the door, feeling Chloe dig her elbow into his side sharply. "Why'd you do that? Or are you just that big of a jerk?"

"I was doing you and the kid a favor. This way you can let him down easy," Oliver said reasonably.

"I _was_ letting him down easy."

"As a former teenage boy I can honestly say that you aren't. Now he thinks you have a boyfriend and he'll start to move on. Trust me."

"Right. I should trust you. Because you trust me," she said sourly.

"I came over to invite you to spend time with my family. Why are you treating me like it's a criminal act?" Oliver said, trying to look innocent.

"You're trying to manipulate a situation to your benefit, for what purpose, I don't know, but your motivation isn't kindness. Now, leave."

"Sorry, you know the deal."

They stared each other down and Chloe broke the contest of will when she was overtaken by a sneeze. Oliver laughed and the tension between them suddenly dissipated. "Come on, what's the harm? My family wants to see you and there will be good food. I'll even make sure there is mango for dessert if that will help convince you."

"Fine," Chloe finally agreed, having no intention of actually going, but needing to get him out of her apartment.

"Excellent, I'll send a car for you at six," Oliver thwarted her.

"Great. Now get out."

"Ms. Sullivan, always a pleasure," Oliver said laughingly as he finally left her in peace.

CO-CO-CO

A few days later, Oliver, dressed as Green Arrow, stood on a rooftop across from Met U watching silently in the dark as Chloe and Ali walked back towards Ali's dorm room. Oliver jumped from one roof to another to follow them, eventually crossing the street and entering campus, quickly scaling up a drain pipe to the top of another dorm to keep his eyes on both girls. When they entered Ali's dorm, he lost them but he knew Chloe would reappear eventually and walk back to her apartment alone.

He couldn't seem to get a grasp on her. She showed every sign of being smart and intelligent, she'd experienced violent crime and personal injury, but she continued to traipse around Metropolis at all hours of the day or night as if it were her personal playground. She should know better.

Her disregard for her personal safety was just one of a long list of things about Chloe Sullivan that didn't make sense to Oliver. He could understand why Ali loved Chloe. He could understand why Chloe would love Ali. But the instant nature of their bond bothered Oliver. He hated to admit it but he might have felt more comfortable if Chloe had made any attempt to get something more from it than just Ali's friendship. But Chloe had never asked for anything from any member of his family. No money, no favors, not even a ride on the jet or an interview. Nothing. She hadn't even ordered an expensive item from the menu at dinner.

Then there were his parents. Initially he'd been intrigued in their reaction to Chloe. But their unwaning attention to her, the depth of feeling and regard they seemed to hold her in completely confused Oliver. He hadn't been able to uncover any connection beyond her mother's stay at his parents "rehab" facility and their investment in the factory that supported the town Chloe had gone to high school in. No financial transactions from his family to hers. No direct contact at all.

His parents spoke fondly of a Chloe they'd known years ago, and Oliver got the feeling they had lost track of that Chloe, much to their disappointment.

Oliver was convinced that there was an answer, but he hadn't come to it yet. In the meantime he had to acknowledge that Chloe seemed to be exactly what she was. A smart college student. A nosey reporter. A pretty girl with an attitude. A person with an unfailing moral compass, and stores of compassion and kindness—for anyone not named Oliver Queen.

His family loved her, even Oliver had to admit he liked her, despite the fact that she had never given him a real smile let alone a kind word.

When Chloe emerged from the dorm Oliver followed her home on the rooftops, waiting until the light came on in her apartment, and again he tried to think up a valid reason he could have for getting her better window and door locks.

CO-CO-CO

"_The trouble with the future is that is usually arrives before we're ready for it." Arnold H. Glasgow_

The following week Chloe agreed to a blind date. She was still seeing the doctor casually, but he wasn't looking for anything serious and neither was Chloe.

Her date, a friend of a friend, took her to dinner then suggested a walk, Chloe found him somewhat amusing and passably intelligent but wasn't feeling any spark. He seemed a shade too vain, and had kept glancing at his phone during dinner.

After less than ten minutes of walking he stopped outside an apartment building. "So this is my place do you want to come up?"

Chloe looked both surprised and insulted, "No."

"Alright then, I'll see you around."

Chloe's mouth fell open as he started climbing the stairs to his building. "You're serious right now?"

"Yeah, night's over, unless you want to change your mind."

"No, really, really no," Chloe said with disgust, turning to leave.

She was walking back towards one of the main streets hoping to find a cab, but knowing that with the steel workers convention in town taxis will be hard to come by that night. Suddenly there was a wooshing sound and a hard arm wrapped around her waist. Chloe fought back instinctively, throwing her elbow and making contact with a hard chest covered in leather. _Leather?_ She thought to herself, twisting around to see the Green Arrow just before she was lifted off the ground and into the air by his firm grip and zip line.

Landing on the roof above them, Chloe twisted out of his hold raking her food down his shin and earning a howl of pain and surprise from Oliver.

She turned around and punched him in the chest, not hard enough to hurt but enough to relieve some of her tension. "Stupid!" she yelled at him.

"Me? You're the one walking around Metropolis in the middle of the night alone," he said with his voice distorted.

"I live here, and I was perfectly safe, except for strange guys coming out of the shadows and scaring the crap out of me."

Behind his glasses and hood, Oliver fumed down at the contrary female, grabbing her arm he started towing her towards the side of the building. "Hey, grabby, what the hell?" Chloe complained, digging her nails into the exposed part of his hand.

"You were being followed," Oliver said with little patience, muscling her over to the edge just in time to see a man round the corner and look around as if he'd lost sight of something or someone.

"Jerk," Chloe said with feeling.

Oliver pulled back, and Chloe could feel the annoyance rolling off him in waves. "You, yes, but that utterance in particular is for him," Chloe nodded, indicating the guy on the street.

"You know him?" Oliver asked incredulously.

"He was my date tonight. And a charming one at that," Chloe said sarcastically.

Oliver shook his head, "Come on Spitfire, I'll get you home, but you should rethink your choice in dates."

"He was a blind date," Chloe grumped.

"Then rethink your choice in friends," Oliver said more at ease. Wrapping his arm around her to lower them to the ground again, he paused to ponder that she hadn't be scared on the way up or down, in fact she'd stepped into him easily and in the perfect hold for the trip down.

CO-CO-CO

"_If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace." Thomas Paine_

(2002) Oliver had just turned 22 when Ali and his mother were kidnapped.

In May, he'd graduated from Harvard and spent the next two months on a tour of the Pacific and Indian oceans, departing from Star City and traversing down to the Panama canal before crossing over to Australia and making his way north along the Asian continent's waters. In August, 2002 he'd reported to work at Queen Industries. He'd been working there on his summers since he was 15 years old, and was ready for the challenge.

Rather than offer him an executive position right out of college, Robert wanted Oliver to apprentice with several of his high level staff. Research and development, accounting, community development, marketing and communications, human resources, manufacturing, and government liaison. For the following few years Oliver would spend time with each section, learning what they did, what they needed, and hopefully how they could improve. Robert had high hopes and faith in his son. Oliver may have been looked at only as the golden boy, silver spoon, ladies man, but Robert knew better.

Oliver had started at Queen industries in the mail room. Robert smiled at the cliché of it, but it was good for Oliver to meet 'regular' people as he'd called them. Each year he'd moved to a different area of the company, but always a low level position, getting to know the people that made up Queen Industries, and the work that they did.

Oliver was only on his fifth week at the job, working with the accounting department when he'd suddenly been surrounded by security and escorted to his father's office. There he'd found his father looking more worried than Oliver had ever seen. He was huddled in conversation with his head of security and private lawyer across the room from several Star City Police detectives and suited FBI agents. "Dad? What's going on?" Oliver had tried to sound calm, even as he felt a deep foreboding settle over him.

"Oliver…" His father had broken off and Oliver was stunned to see tears in his father's eyes. Their family wasn't afraid to show emotions, but the only time Oliver had ever seen his father cry was when his own mother had died when Oliver was six and in the hospital right after Ali was born. "Oliver, we're still trying to put the pieces together, but it appears that your mother and Ali have disappeared."

"What? When? What happened? Where was their security?" Oliver asked in a panic.

"The disappeared from a store, the store staff were knocked out and left tied up but relatively unharmed. Malcolm and Cesar are dead Reed is in the hospital, his doctors don't think he'll make it," Robert tried to relate the details as unemotionally as possible.

For the first time in a long time Oliver felt completely helpless. His mother and baby sister were missing, their guards were dead or dying. Oliver couldn't think. "We have to find them… Who would do this? How…?"

"I don't know," Robert said gravely, but Oliver frowned as he watched his father fidget with his watch then slide his hand into his pocket. Oliver admired his father. He'd studied him. Knew his quirks, knew his tells. And touching his watch was one of them. His father was lying. Robert Queen knew who had taken his wife and daughter, but he wasn't sharing that information with the police.

CO-CO-CO

(2009) A few nights later the Green Arrow had just finished zip tying a thief he'd caught robbing a closed jewelry store when he is interrupted by the sudden appearance of a man dressed in a black trench coat, jeans and t-shirt.

"What are you doing?" the man questioned imperiously.

"Oh you know, I was out for a stool and thought I'd do my good deed for the day," Oliver said easily, his glasses' night vision easily allowing him to see the man as he moved closer to the burglar to and checked on him. The man was unconscious but otherwise unhurt.

"What'd you do to him?"

"He's fine, he'll wake up in time to get his finger prints taken." Oliver looked at the man more closely, realizing that he recognized him from somewhere.

"Who are you?" Clark questioned the man in green.

Oliver frowned placing the man finally, he had been in several of the pictures he'd seen of Chloe from high school. "I prefer to remain anonymous," he grinned.

"You shouldn't be here," Clark said and Oliver grinned at him.

"No one should be here, this is a closed store. But someone needs to help people, keep them safe. Listen man, I hear you do good work, we don't have a problem here," Oliver placated, realizing that Chloe's friend was the Blur.

Clark opened his mouth to argue but the sound of sirens distract him and when he turned back around the Green Arrow is gone.

CO-CO-CO

The next day, Clark stoped at his mom's Metropolis offices to find her meeting with a tall blonde man.

"Oh Clark, I'm glad you're bit early, I'd like you to meet Oliver Queen, he has some interesting ideas for public-private partnerships here in Kansas. Oliver, my son, Clark," Martha Kent made their official introductions.

"Pleased to meet you Clark. Your mother speaks fondly of you," Oliver said confidently.

Clark shook the man's hand, but frowned recognizing his grin as the same one the that the Green Arrow had given him.

CO-CO-CO

(Sept. 2002) Catching his father in a lie had given Oliver something to focus on, something to think about other than what could be happening to his mother or Ali at that moment. Oliver hoped they were together, that would be some comfort to Ali who was just eleven years old. She was still a little girl. Sweet, innocent, and defenseless against the cruelty in the world. They'd all done their part to protect her, and since moving home from college Oliver had realized that maybe they'd done too good a job.

Ali thought the world was full of kindness. It wasn't.

Oliver had hoped to spend more time with her, expose her to more of reality outside the high white walls that his family's wealth provided for her. Being kidnapped, hurt, held captive was not the way Oliver had wanted her to experience the real world.

Oliver waited until most of the police and private staff had momentarily left his father's office. "Excuse me, Uncle Matt," Oliver said to his father's longtime friend and lawyer. "I'd like to speak to dad alone for a minute if you don't mind."

Once alone, Oliver sat down across from his father and stared at him. He'd seemed to age as the hours wore on. There had still not been any ransom demand, no communication from the kidnappers at all. Robert Queen looked haggard with grief and fear. "Why don't you tell me what's really going on here, Dad."

"Your mother and Ali will be fine Oliver, they're just waiting to make us suffer so we'll be willing to pay more," Robert said, his eyes focused over his son's shoulder, his fingers adjusting the watch on his left wrist.

"You're lying," Oliver said plainly. "Don't you think I know you by now? I'm not a child any more. I know you know who took them, and I know you're not telling the police. Tell me. I'm all grown up now Dad. I can handle it. What I can't handle is not knowing."

Robert stared at his son, reading the calmness there, the edge of anger, the need to do something, anything, the worry. He nodded. "Lionel Luthor has waged a war on our family for over a decade now. I don't have proof yet, but I know he has them."

Oliver was stunned as Robert laid out their hidden family history. The bomb on their private plane in 1989, a car bomb in 1994, and an assignation attempt in Nigeria while Laura and Robert had been there on a tour in 1998 to see what their foundation funds had done for the people there.

CO-CO-CO

(2009) Chloe was sitting at a bar not far from the Met U campus, being a Thursday night it was busy, but not packed yet. The bar and bar stools were wood, the music provided by a jute box, it was not a slick modern bar, rather it was old, worn, and comfortable. Chloe sat next to Clark on a barstool, smiling happily. She chatted away, telling him about school and work at the DP.

Clark had dropped out of Southern Kansas University after Jonathon Kent had died, but at his mother's urging he had returned to school attending the community college in Granville. Clark had just finished his GE courses and was going to transfer to Met U in the fall. "So I was thinking about joining the paper at Met U when I transfer."

Chloe looked surprised, but happy. "Really? 'Cause I gotta say Clark, you didn't seem to have a very keen interest in it in high school."

"I liked it, but there always seemed to be something more important going on."

Chloe smiled knowingly. "I bet," recalling her own memories of Clark ditching her for Lana or whatever meteor freak was wreaking havoc at the moment. Clark's memories were slightly different, he'd alternated between dating Lana and Chloe in this reality, but Chloe bet that some things were the same.

Clark smiled at his old friend, ex-girlfriend, and cousin to his current girlfriend. "Can you believe we've been friends for almost ten years now?"

"Yeah, sometimes it feels like dog years, sometimes like it was just yesterday that I kissed you in your barn," Chloe laughed.

Clark laughed and smiled along with her and they recalled various stories from their teen years, Chloe somewhat tentatively, unsure of what exactly had stayed the same, but she'd done her research and was able to share remembrances without any faux pas.

Clark was smiling as he recalled the time both Lana and Chloe had been dating Ian and his duplicate. "Oh yeah? What about you and Alicia, or you and Kyla, or you and…"

"OK, enough," Clark laughed, cutting off Chloe's retaliation. Both laughed until Clark's attention focused across the room. His face was suddenly serious, and Chloe twisted on her bar stool to see Lois had entered the bar, followed closely by Oliver. Chloe's smile fell as well, leaving Lois the only one of the four smiling brightly.

"Hey 'cuz. Clark, you do know you own shirts other than plaid, red and blue, right? I know, I bought them for you and put them in your closet," Lois greeted them, letting Clark kiss her cheek, but his gaze remained on Oliver Queen.

"Where I'm sure they are still hanging with their tags on," Chloe teased, trying to act naturally. "Oliver, what an unexpected surprise," Chloe said with an edge. "This is my friend Clark Kent. Clark, Oliver Queen."

"We've met," Clark said shortly, causing both Chloe and Lois to frown and look from one man to the other.

Oliver grinned charmingly, leaning down to kiss Chloe's cheek in greeting, letting his hand ghost over the curve of her back. His grin widened as he say her face tense at his touch. "Yes, we've met."

"What are you doing here Oliver?" Chloe managed to get out through gritted teeth, inching to the side to try to put more space between her body and his.

"I stopped by to see you and your cousin was kind enough to invite me to join you for a night out."Oliver smiled at the group at large, appearing very much at ease and in control of the situation. "I'm still new in town and making friends who have the right motives is always a challenge."

Chloe shook her head at him. "So if I find you some friends, can I hope for a decrease of your presence in my life?"

"Chloe, you wound me." Oliver affected hurt, placing one hand over his heart even as he nodded to get the bartender's attention. "I've got this round, what is everyone having?"

CO-CO-CO

"_The trouble with her is that she lacks the power of conversation but not the power of speech."  
George Bernard Shaw_

Chloe and Lois catch a cab home, leaving the guys to bond. "Dude, cuz, for a guy you're in live with you sure do give him a hard time," Lois launched into conversation without warning.

"I am not in love with him," Chloe sputtered.

"Uh, yeah, right. Not that I'm judging you or anything, so you got in touch with your bitchy teenage princess a few years late, whatever. But I think the saying is that you'll catch more bees with honey than vinegar."

"I'm not trying to catch anything or anyone," Chloe denied, staring out the window.

"Right, cause you're not in love with the handsome, charming, rich guy who stares at you all the time."

"He's suspicious about… something. I don't know what."

"Let me guess. Time travel." Chloe cuts a glare at Lois, glancing at the cab driver who appeared to be engrossed with his cell phone. "Um, buddy, I'm pretty sure texting while driving is against the law in all fifty states so, eyes on the road," Lois said shrilly, causing the man to drop his phone to the floorboards. Cursing in another language he continued to drive while trying to find his phone at his feet.

"Great, that's safe," Chloe grumped. "No, I 'm pretty sure if he knew about that he'd have mentioned it."

"I mean he knows something is up with you and his parents, by the way you two will have incredibly good looking babies based off the genetics you two are carrying around…"

"Lois!" Chloe cried out.

"What? It's inevitable. You two scream UST. I nearly jumped Clark in the bathroom just because of the vibes bouncing off you two. And, oh yeah, you love him."

"I don't love him." Chloe mumbles, paying the taxi and climbing out, grateful to be able to get some distance between her and Lois.

"Right he just looks like your Oliver, led much of the same life, walks the same, talks the same, acts the same... does he smell the same? 'Cause I have to admit, he smells good. Not that salt of the earth scent Clark wears… but delicious."

"Old Spice," Chloe mumbled, earning a funny look from Lois. "Clark's cologne, not Ollie's."

"Oh, Ollie," Lois said with exaggerated amorousness.

"Let it go Lois. He's completely different now, he has a sister and his parents." Chloe said as she went straight to her bedroom and tried to shut Lois out. Lois simply opened the door and laid back on Chloe's bed, clearly not giving up the argument yet.

"How dare he!" Lois said mockingly. "I mean to have a family. What an asshole."

"You know what I mean Lo. He's diff. I don't know this Oliver."

"It seems like you could know him. He seems interested in you. And Chlo... " Lois suddenly sounded serious. "People are who they are. Maybe our circumstances change... maybe some parts of our personalities don't get as developed as they might under different circumstances, but who we are at our core... that doesn't change unless something major happens."

"Like say your parents dying?" Chloe said dryly.

"Sure but tell me again about every life where you and he crossed paths how you two ended up together even if it was just for some bed sport?" Lois asked with a sly smile.

"I knew I'd regret telling you about that," Chloe moaned.

CO-CO-CO

(Sept. 2002) Leaving his father's office after learning the truth, Oliver felt the need to work off some of his pent up energy. He headed home, to the penthouse he'd bought over Star City, not far from QIs corporate offices. He'd hit the gym, pounding a boxing bag until his fists were bloody, then running five miles on the treadmill and lifting weights until his muscles burned. Still it wasn't enough. Stepping out of the shower Oliver tied a towel lightly around his waist and walked out to his balcony. The city sparkled with lights and sounds. Fifty stories below life went on, people lived and laughed and went about their business as if their worlds hadn't just changed completely. Oliver's had.

The good news was Lionel had taken them because he wanted something. He had nothing to gain by killing Laura or Ali. The bad news was that no one knew what Lionel wanted or where he'd taken Ali and Laura to, or how he was treating them while he had them.

Oliver felt an overwhelming need to get out. He needed to walk, to run, to do anything other than stand here and wait. Oliver pulled on a pair of jeans, tennis shoes and a black hoodie, before exiting his building through the service tunnels under the building. He wasn't in the mood for his security, and had years ago perfected the art of ditching them. Today he had finally learned why his parents insisted on their security details. Not that it had kept Ali or Laura Queen safe.

Walking the streets of Star City, Oliver tried to make his mind blank. If he let it wander he started to imagine where his mother and Ali were, what was happening to them. Were they scared? Had they been hurt? Were they even alive?

Oliver wasn't good at keeping his mind blank. He tried but he couldn't keep the horrifying thoughts and images out of his mind, so he turned his focus to Lionel Luthor. His father's business competitor had gone to jail for a year for spying on Queen Industries, but according to Robert it was the least of his sins. Lionel had tried to kill his parents on three separate occasions. He'd failed each time. But now Ali and Laura were missing. If Lionel wanted to bring Robert Queen to his knees, he'd found the perfect way. Oliver felt the deep acid of hate flow through is his mind. He encouraged it. Hate and anger were better than fear. Hating Lionel, imaging his revenge on the man, was a million times better than wondering if Ali was calling out for her brother in fear.

The sound of a fight finally penetrated Oliver's red haze of anger, he followed the sounds until he found himself in an alley where three boys where beating up another one, while a fourth boy held a girl pressed up against the wall. The girl looked terrified, and the boy on the ground had stopped fighting back and was just covering his head.

Without thought Oliver pulled one attacker away from the girl, seeing that her shirt had been ripped open he threw the man against the other wall, where he slumped to the ground. She fell to her knees crying and trying to clutch together the remnants of her shirt. Oliver thought she might run, but she just stayed down, crying piteously.

He moved forward grabbing two of the attackers by the neck and slamming their heads together so hard that they fell to the ground and moaned quietly before trying to crawl away. The final attacker turned to face Oliver. "Who the hell are you?"

"Somebody who's had a really bad day," Oliver said back and lashed out with his leg as the man rushed at him. The man flew backwards and fell to the ground.

"What are you? Some kind of ninja?"

Oliver just smiled and beckoned the guy to try to come at him again, which the man did. Oliver dodged him and grabbed his arm as he flew past, twisting it up behind his back and pinning him painfully against the wall. "I don't need to be a ninja to deal with trash like you."

The sound of the girl's cries drew Oliver's attention, and he slammed the man's head against the wall and let him drop to the ground unceremoniously. He turned to face the girl who had crawled over to the guy on the ground and was trying to wake him up unsuccessfully. Oliver pulled out his phone and called 911.

Done giving their location to the dispatch, he hung up and knelt down. "Don't move him, he could have a back injury," Oliver advised.

"Tha-anks," she stuttered. "They wanted my purse, but I wouldn't give it to them… I should have just given it to them…" she cried.

Oliver slipped away as the police arrived, not wanting any press for this while his mother and sister were missing. But the girl had recognized him anyway, and the next day while the kidnapping was the big headline, the story of Oliver's rescue made national news as well.

CO-CO-CO

(2009) A few days later Oliver called Ali to schedule a lunch. Once she was done with her meal and had run down her week for him, Oliver broached the topic he'd been waiting to get to. "So are you dating any guys I should know about?"

Ali's head popped up to stare at him like a deer in the headlights. "No."

Oliver frowned. "Any guys at all?" Ali shook her head, but reached up a hand to start twirling her hair in a nervous gesture. "Ali, I will find out, either you can tell me or I call Eddie and get a security report."

"Ollie," she complained still avoiding his eyes.

"You know the rules, Eddie's team doesn't tell me or Mom or Dad as long as he's able to run a clean security check on the guy and you're up front with us. But if you're keeping it from me…"

"Ollie, it's college, and I want to be a normal girl. I want to date, and have fun, and sometimes that means I'm hanging out with a guy, not dating him."

"Hanging out?" Oliver questioned, feeling the conversation getting away from him. "What does that mean?"

"Ollie!"

"Look, I'm trying to be cool with this, I know you're growing up, but you gotta cut me some slack here, Ali. I still want you to be my baby sister forever."

"I will always be your sister, Ollie, but I'm not a baby anymore."

"I know," he said with feeling, reaching over to squeeze her hand.

Ali's expression lightened and she looked at him with the deep affection he savored from her. "Thank you, and I know you're trying. If I have anything to tell you, I will," she said very regally, earning a smile from him.

"Fine. As long as you're not having sex," Oliver tossed out, half in teasing, half to see her reaction.

Ali turned bright red. "Ollie!"

He smiled as she looked mortified. "Good. It's not too late for you to join the convent, you know."

"You're ridiculous."

"I'm just looking out for you. Maybe Chloe has some guys she can set you up with. She seems smart."

"Chloe's friends are four years older than me, I think I should stick with guys my age for awhile, but she does have this one friend. God he's hot."

Oliver frowned again, he still wasn't closing in on his goal and this conversation was giving him indigestion.

"Who?"

"Nobody you know," Ali said in a singsong voice.

"Clark?" Ali's mouth fell open in a telltale reaction. "Not sure I get your taste, but hey, I can take comfort in the fact that the guy's got his hands full with Lois."

"You know Clark and Lois? How?" Ali asked suspiciously.

"I ran into them with Chloe, we got to talking." Ali frowned with dissatisfaction, having been hoping for a clear line of distinction between her friends and her brother's friends. "So how is Chloe, anyway? You still hang out with her pretty regularly. And by hanging out I mean spending time in a platonic way. As I'll continue to imagine that you do with all your friends, male or female. And at the point that I learn that is not the case I will be handing out beat downs to your boyfriends, or guys your dating, and especially to any guy you're just hooking up with."

"Ollie, stop." She tried to stare him down but he was completely unintimidated by her. "Fine, changing the topic. Yes, I still see Chloe. She's great, and she gave me an intern spot on the paper, which you know. She lets me shadow her sometimes on her stories, I'm learning a ton. And no, I don't think she'd offer to set me up with any guys unless I asked, she acts like as much of a big sibling as you sometimes. Besides I think she's having enough dating trouble of her own."

"Oh?" Oliver asked with affected casualness. This was what he'd wanted to get to. For some reason the idea of Chloe dating some douche who would leave her to make her own way home, then follow her rankled.

"Yeah, Trish from the paper set her up on a date that was, like, total disaster date potential."

"How so?"

"After they had dinner they went for a walk and he led her back to his place and asked her to come up. When she said no, he just ditched her there on the street. What a dick," Ali said then cringed, expecting a reprimand for her language, but getting none.

Oliver frowned, and Ali continued, tucking into her dessert. "Chloe's so great, why would a guy act like that? He should be so lucky to get her in bed." When that statement jolted Oliver out of wherever his thoughts had taken him she shot him a wide smile and stuffed another bite of her ice cream into her mouth. "Hmmm, good."

"Seriously having a conversation with Eddie," Oliver grumbled.

CO-CO-CO

Later that week Chloe knocked on Ali's door and hearing Ali shout "Come in" entered the door room. Chloe stopped short seeing Oliver sitting comfortably on Ali's desk while the teenager paired her socks. "Chloe, help me out here, how old were you when you firs had sex?" Ali asked out of nowhere.

"What?" Chloe squeaked.

"Yeah, Chloe, weigh in on the conversation," Oliver egged Ali on.

"I don't think…"

"Ollie here seems to think I should wait until marriage. And by marriage I mean to a man of his choosing when I'm 30."

"I…" Chloe looked like a deer in the headlights as both Queens stared at her. Oliver's mocking stare combined with Ali's honest curiosity and hopeful look finally swayed Chloe to just be honest. "Sixteen. Alright? That's a totally normal age. And yes, before anyone asks I did regret it. It was too soon I was in too much of a rush, and I just felt awkward afterwards. We all good now?" Chloe rushed to complete her account of the event.

"Did you love him?" Ali asked innocently.

Oliver took pity seeing the indecisive look on Chloe's face. "Sometimes teenage girls think they're in love when they're really not, and girls, especially inexperienced girls, often mistake attraction and flattery for love."

"Or sex for love," Chloe offered.

"Exactly."

"But how am I supposed to get experience, without… getting experience?" Ali asked with a sly look at her brother whose mouth worked open and closed in shock.

Chloe smiled at Ali, shaking her head at the girl's tactics. "I think what both your brother and I want for you Ali is that you have the best first time experience possible with someone who really cares for you and that you care for in return. I know you feel like you're in a rush right now to do everything and experience everything, but honestly, it's better to take your time and… sorry for the cliché, make sure it's right." Oliver turned an admiring gaze on Chloe, his expression more open and honest than she'd seen from him before. "You're the only one who can decide that for you, and you'll know when it's right – ignore everyone else and trust yourself."

CO-CO-CO

"_Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice.  
It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved." William Jennings Bryan_

(Sept. 2002)

Oliver found himself walking the streets again the next night, the second night that his mother and sister had been missing. He wasn't lost in his thoughts this time, he was looking, listening, for what he wasn't sure, until he found it.

The sounds of a woman's cries drew him into an parking lot beside a rundown bar. With his hood up to protect his identity, he rescued a woman from her drunk boyfriend, then bought a child on the street a meal. The following night he stopped a car jacker, and called in a report of a father beating his child.

CO-CO-CO

"_A man must know his destiny… if he does not recognize it, then he is lost.  
By this I mean, once, twice, or at the very most, three times, fate will reach out and tap a man on the shoulder… if he has the imagination, he will turn around and fate will point out to him what fork in the road he should take, if he has the guts, he will take it." General George S. Patton_

By the time that Ali and Laura Queen were found alive six weeks after being taken, Oliver was hooked on the feeling of control the feeling of being able to help people.

* * *

AN- This chapter came quickly, please review if you're enjoying the story…

Words: 7251


	12. Ch12: Black Eyes and Revelations

**Ch. 12: Black Eyes and Revelations**

(Star City, 2005) Oliver's parents sat at a sunny table finishing their breakfast and reading the paper. Laura exhaled nosily and frowned. She shared the article she was reading with her husband. "The Green Arrow was out again last night, bringing his tally of caught criminals to 998, but resulting convictions are still trailing nearly 60% behind at 419. Several fans of the vigilante are planning a party in his honor this Friday at the Lucky Green Tavern on 5th Street downtown in anticipation of his rescues topping 1000 this week."

"We should attend," Robert said lightly, then began reading from his own paper. "The Star City Register is increasing their reward for any information leading to the identity of the Green Arrow to $20,000. Star City Police continue to officially condemn the actions of our city's fair hero, but off the record, they admit that their conviction rate has gone up while crime has gone down since the Green Arrow made his first appearance in 2002."

"He's going to get hurt," Laura said in exasperation.

"We need to trust that he knows what he's doing, Laur. Besides, I thought you felt better about it now that he wasn't doing this alone."

"I like AC and Hal, but they aren't here all the time, what if something happens and Ollie is all alone and hurt?"

"Laura… I'm worried to, but Oliver loves it. He's found his calling, we have to let him be," Robert reasoned.

"And why does he insist on keeping it a secret from us?" Laura complained.

Robert laughed. "Exactly to avoid us doing this, I'd think." His wife shot him a dirty look and he laughed, but tried to cover it as a cough.

"Oh dear," she said sweetly. "You sound like you're getting sick. You'd better sleep in a guest room tonight, you know I can't get sick this week, I have the Children's Gala on Friday." She smiled more genuinely as he frowned at her. "And if you're still not feeling well, I'll give you permission to miss it," she said knowing full well that the Children's Gala was Robert's favorite charity event to attend.

Robert looked alarmed then settled back into his seat, she'd forgive him eventually. He pondered the odd hand that life had dealt him. Robert had enlisted in the Marines straight out of high school, promising to return and marry Laura, the love of his live. Three years later, he'd done exactly that.

Enrolling in college, he'd been at the end of his second year when one of his inventions had received a patient and he was offered just under a million dollars to sell his rights to it. Robert had declined and his father, ailing at the young age of 56 after many years hard work selling appliances at the store he'd started and kept going to support his family, had offered him $200,000 to take his patient and start his own business. His father had lived long enough to see Robert make his first million, but died soon after.

Robert and Laura had gone on to start their family, having a son and growing the business. They'd been happy. Then Virgil Swan had approached Robert about working together to expand space exploration and soon after had brought Robert and Laura into the Veritas Society. Not long after that Lionel Luthor had made his first attempt to kill the Queens and Chloe had appeared in their lives for a few short hours to save them and give them the guidance they would need to save themselves in the future.

It was Chloe's mention of Oliver having received his _first_ bow from his father that had inspired Robert to make archery a hobby he and his son continued to share over the years.

Robert had never imagined that Oliver would use his skills as a masked vigilante, but if Robert had learned anything in this life it was to expect and accept the unexpected.

CO-CO-CO

"_Know that love is truly timeless." ― Mary M. Ricksen_

(2009) The Queens decided to spend Thanksgiving in Metropolis, getting a hotel suite downtown between the campus and the Clock Tower. Dinner would be held at Oliver's apartment, and Ali was encouraged to invite her friends. Laura wanted to meet Gabe Sullivan, and wanted very much to get her way, but Chloe had nixed the idea of a joint Thanksgiving when it was first mentioned. She did relent later under the combined force of Ali, Robert and Laura to have dinner with them on Sunday and invite Gabe to attend, but only after Laura promised that Oliver would be elsewhere.

The Queens arrived the Monday before Thanksgiving and made a trip to campus, one that Ali reluctantly agreed to, even agreeing to allow Oliver on campus. Chloe thought the Queens were adorable, they clearly loved each other and all of them adored Ali. She was a later in life child for the Queens and a celebration of life in the face of mortal danger.

Oliver decided to head to Met U early, wanting to see if he could catch Chloe off guard. He still didn't have any answers about her connection to his family, but he was no longer worried that she was out to get whatever she could from them. He had the definite feeling that his parents would give Chloe anything she asked for, including a million dollars.

Oliver walked into the classroom that housed the school's newspaper office and found the room nearly empty. He saw a few student reporters busy at their computers, and one on the phone whose mouth fell open when she saw him and recognized who he was. Oliver smiled and saw the co-eds face turn dreamy. Looking around he zeroed in on a curvy backside dressed in a pair of dark jeans bent over a desk with her feet nearly off the ground. The girl's shirt had ridden up, exposing a wide strip of pale flesh that begged to be touched.

Oliver moved closer and tilted his head as he admired the butt as it wiggled in the air. He paused for a moment, realizing that he had no doubt that the butt in question was Chloe's. His smile grew when he heard her mutter as she tried to pick up something that had fallen behind the desk.

Stepping closer, he slid a stabilizing hand on her back, to help her out. He couldn't help it if part of his hand rested firmly on her ass, he had long fingers.

Suddenly she popped up, her fist flying up over her shoulder and connected with his right eye socket.

Chloe spun around fearfully, then her mouth opened in shock and ire as she recognized Oliver. He was holding a hand to his eye a look of shock and surprise on his face. "You hit me."

"You shouldn't have grabbed my ass."

"I didn't, I was trying to stop you from taking a header."

"Right."

"I was," he protested. "You should thank me."

"You should apologize to me."

"If you want, but I won't mean it."

"You are so… infuriating," she fumed.

"You find me charming."

"Hardly," she denied with a smirk, then her face softened. "I think you're going to have a black eye." Oliver looked alarmed for a moment, his male pride obviously wounded that a small girl could hurt him. "Aw, did your grabby hands get you in trouble, big boy? You want some ice?"

"You could kiss it and make it better," he flirted. He was surprised to see that she flushed at the suggestion.

"I think you'll be fine," she said in a rough tone.

Before Oliver could continue the conversation his parents arrived. Chloe shot him a look that he couldn't read and rushed over to his parents, giving and receiving hard hugs from each of them.

Oliver sauntered over and was subject to his parents questions over his eye which was already slightly swollen and tinged with blue. "Ollie, what happened?" Laura exclaimed.

"Oliver? Did you get in a fight?" Robert asked, noticing with interest the blush that filled Chloe's cheeks.

"Hmm, how to explain it…" Oliver mussed, also taking note of Chloe's blush.

"Oliver ran into his ego," Chloe said dismissively.

Laura's eyebrows shot up at the explanation, but she smiled brightly, happy to see the chemistry between Oliver and Chloe. "I hear that happens quite a bit," Laura agreed.

Oliver scowled at his mother playfully, but watched with real dissatisfaction as his parents blocked any further attempts of his to talk to Chloe. After a few minutes, Oliver received a text from Ali saying that she was running late and would meet them at her dorm room.

Chloe smiled at them awkwardly. "Oh, well, when you leave here, take a left, circle the next building then follow the signs to the dorm. Oliver knows the way."

"We'll be fine. I hope we'll see you later Chloe," Robert said.

"Of course we will," Laura agreed, while making her expectations clear.

"Better give in now Chloe, on the off chance you win against my mother, you'll have to deal with her pouting and passive aggressive behavior later," Oliver said as an aside, but pitched his voice loud enough so his mother could hear.

Chloe laughed, then tried to look dignified. "Dinner tomorrow?" Chloe offered, much to all the Queens' surprise.

"Yes. Sounds lovely. Should it be just us girls?" Laura offered, shooting her son a glare.

"Why do I get punished for Ollie's bad behavior?" Robert complained lightly.

Oliver shook his head. "What's the verdict Chloe? If you banish me, you won't get to admire your handiwork," he said indicating his injured eye.

Chloe laughed and he realized that she'd never laughed at any of his jokes before. "It would be a shame to miss seeing how bad it gets…"

"Then it's settled. I'll text you the restaurant address later tonight," Laura pounced on Chloe's agreement.

Chloe quickly hugged both his parents goodbye then stopped before him awkwardly. Oliver smiled at her mockingly, opening his arms wide. Chloe narrowed her eyes at him and he smiled and offered her his hand. She accepted it, intending to shake it quickly then escape, but before she could enact her plan, he lifted her hand to his mouth for a courtly kiss.

Chloe blinked at him stupidly, then snatched her hand back as she registered the absolute silence in the room. She looked over at his parents almost guiltily, taking in Laura's avid expression and Robert's kind look.

Chloe stepped back, intending to flee, but Oliver's voice stopped her. "Wait, I owe you…" he broke off as he leaned down over the desk she had been bent over and fished out her small USB drive that she'd dropped, and handed it to her, running his finger tips over her palm teasingly. "Here you go."

"Th-thanks," Chloe said, trying to recover her cool.

Chloe practically ran off and Robert was surprised that Laura resisted lecturing Oliver.

Exitingthe paper's office, the Queens walked in silence for a few minutes, passing a few groups of girls who all twittered and smiled Ollie's way. One even approached and handed him a slip of paper with her number written on it.

Robert nodded his head, clasping his arm around his son's shoulders. "Oliver, I know that these days it's fine for a woman to pursue a man. But I think you need to realize that there might be a woman worth having that won't fall into your arms so easily as your usual dates."

Laura Queen looked at her husband of 33 years with her eyes glowing with love.

"Blame it on the good looks you both passed on to me, but most women I meet make it very clear that they're interested in me. If I don't have to do much work, all the better," Oliver said lightly.

"A good woman will see you as yourself and not a bank account or a publicity machine, Oliver," Laura said softly.

"Well, those women must be busy elsewhere, because I don't see them here now," Oliver dismissed.

Laura opened her mouth but shut it again as Robert caught her eye. "Ali is settling in nicely, yes?" He seemingly changed the topic.

"Yes, of course. She's made some friends, and of course she has Chloe," Oliver confirmed.

"Ah, Chloe. Do like that girl," Laura said, trying to sound offhanded.

"Yeah, with anyone who's not me, she's a gem," Oliver agreed, with an arch look at his mother.

Robert regarded his son with a serious look. "A woman who knows her own worth will insist that a man recognize it too."

Oliver stopped walking and turned to his father. "What does that have to do with the fact that she hates me and loves all of you? I recognize her worth, she's great. A little violent sometimes, but other than that…"

Robert had been cautioning Laura not to try to push Oliver and Chloe together as much as it upset her to see Chloe's pain whenever she was around Oliver. Laura walked into her husband's arms and kissed him lightly. Robert closed his arms tightly around her still trim waist and deepened the kiss.

Oliver looked both amused and exasperated. "I'm suddenly feeling very happy that you two decided to stay at a hotel," Oliver grinned. "How about I go get Ali and then we can get lunch out of the way so you two can go make out like teenagers while I put some ice on my eye." His parents continued to kiss. "Great, glad we're all in agreement."

CO-CO-CO

Gabe was unsure what to expect, but the Queens were real, warm, funny, and so open that he relaxed and nearly forgot that he was dining with one of the richest families in the world. Gabe smiled at Chloe's interactions with Ali, and felt a moment's regret that he and Moira hadn't had a second child. Chloe clearly would have made a good big sister. Gabe let go of his regret, just as he'd learned to let go of Moira all those years ago.

CO-CO-CO

"_You meet your destiny on the road you take to avoid it." Carl Jung_

When Chloe found herself handcuffed to another chair in another dank office, she wondered about fate and destiny and repeating patterns. She certainly didn't intend to end up in these situations but here she was again.

Just like she couldn't seem to avoid Oliver, she couldn't seem to avoid trouble. John Wainwright, the mayor's city manager was the one of the saddest, pathetic looking men Chloe had ever seen, round like a weeble wobble, balding, and perpetually sweaty, Chloe hadn't thought him much of a threat. But he was the one to demand that she be handcuffed to the chair she now found herself in. Chloe wondered what his endgame was, and thought, not for the first time, that she'd better get free before she found out.

She'd tried slipping her hands free, but all she had to show for her efforts were bruises and bloody wrists. She'd tried to break the chair, but it was metal and seemed to be made back in the World War II era when things were built to last and made from steel. Determining that she wasn't going to get herself free she'd called for help. As ridiculous as she felt calling out for "the Blur" she'd done it.

Adding to her misfortunes, Clark wasn't responding. Chloe frowned behind her blindfold, starting to get worried. It was December in Kansas, there was snow and ice covering the ground and Chloe was rapidly losing body heat and feeling in her extremities. She tried to comfort herself with the fact that she was blindfolded, but she'd seen John Wainwright's face and he knew it, he couldn't let her go now. Besides she had the proof she needed about the land development bribe, if he let her go, she'd write the story and he'd be arrested.

CO-CO-CO

Oliver, dressed as Green Arrow, entered the room through a high window. He shook his head, but smiled ruefully. Her ending up bound and blindfolded didn't seem to faze her much, and was inevitable with how she lived her life. Oliver snuck up behind her, whispering in her ear, "You need to work on your survival instincts Spitfire, this is rescue number two."

Chloe sagged in her chair realizing that she was rescued, but frowned indignantly when instead of releasing her from the cuffs, he wrapped her discarded jacket around her shoulders then he grabbed the back of the chair, tilted it back onto two legs and drug her out of the small room. He laughed at her indignant protests and annoyed pleading, dragging her up the one flight of stairs to the roof without speaking to her again.

Setting her chair flat again, Chloe waited for him to uncuff her but instead everything went silent around her. For a stunned moment, she considered that he'd actually just left her there. But then she realized that Ollie would never do that. As much as she gave this Oliver shit for just about every aspect of his life, he was a good man, a hero, and he wouldn't abandon her.

Chloe frowned and then decided to end the game between them. She was tired, cold and wanted to go write her story, then go home and sleep for a minimum of twelve hours under a pile of blankets. "Oh come on Ollie," she said with dry exasperation, "We both know you're not going to leave me here. If I could call for Clark, don't you think I would have by now? He's not answering."

Chloe knew that Clark and Oliver had met as their alter egos, and apparently hadn't decided to be friends just yet. She sighed with exasperation. _Boys_.

The crunch of his footsteps sounded, approaching her rapidly. He pulled the blindfold away and she blinked at him as her eyes tried to adjust.

Oliver sat on his haunches, directly in her sightline. "You know who I am?"

"Yeah, I do," she confirmed.

"How?"

"How about you uncuff me and we can chat about your need to hide your identity better in a more comfortable and heated location?" Chloe bargained.

Oliver nodded, and picked the lock, freeing her hands. "You'll need some first aid for these, Spitfire," he said after examining her wrists.

"Nice nickname," she said with a nearly mournful smile, as she stepped into his arms so he could lower them down from the roof.

Oliver looked down at her, but she lowered her head, avoiding his searching gaze.

CO-CO-CO

Oliver drove her back to the Clock Tower, a place Chloe had resisted going with Ali. She was shivering violently when they arrived and he pulled off her chilled jacket when she seemed to struggle with the zipper, sliding it off her shoulders, then wrapping her in a warm blanket, before chaffing his hands up and down her arms a few times to get her blood flowing.

After he was satisfied that she wasn't cold anymore and had tended to her injured wrists, Oliver went into his secret room to change out of his leathers and Chloe looked around, stunned by how similar it looked to when she'd been there with her Ollie in a different world. The only major difference was the proliferation of family photos scattered around the place, whereas before there had just been a few pictures of Ollie with his parents as a child.

When Oliver returned, he found her standing still in the middle of the room with tears pouring silently down her face. "What's wrong? Are you hurt?" He ran his hands over her arms and legs, looking for injuries.

"No, I'm not hurt."

"Then why are you crying?" Oliver looked concerned. "I expect you to spit at and kick me, not to cry, Spitfire, hence the nickname," Ollie said tenderly.

Chloe choked on a laugh. She'd been doing better, feeling better, she felt almost ready to drop her manufactured resentment for this Oliver and accept him as he was, but suddenly, unexpected she was here and surrounded by memories. "Sorry, just… delayed reaction I guess." Her chest shuttered as she tried to calm herself with deep breaths, and Oliver tugged her gently into his arms, expecting her to resist but pleasantly surprised when she relaxed in his hold.

"Hey, you got kidnapped tonight, that's bound to throw off a person's equilibrium. Even yours."

Chloe laughed thinking how shocked he'd be to find out how many times she'd been kidnapped or taken hostage. But her laughter turned back to tears as the familiar feel of his arms around her reminded her of the love she'd once had.

CO-CO-CO

Chloe woke up a few hours later, feeling the tired calm that came after an emotional outburst. She opened her eyes to see that she was curled up on Oliver's couch, her head resting on his shoulder, his arm around her lightly. She slowly disentangled herself from him, needing to get away, too afraid to hope that the previous hours had altered their distant relationship into something closer.

She needed him to keep his distance. As much as she'd accepted this life, how her choices had led her here, and despite her protests to Lois, she still loved her Oliver, and with each encounter with this Oliver it was harder and harder to keep them separate in her mind.

CO-CO-CO

Chloe slipped out of the Clock Tower easily, amused to find that the codes she knew from her previous life still worked. She wondered what the series of numbers meant to Oliver, to both Olivers. She'd submitted her story at 8am. Her editor had read it with his face getting redder and redder, then he'd ignored her and called upper management and the lawyers to vet the story and determine their risk in printing it. Just after noon, the story received its final edit and approval and was ready for the printer. It was Chloe's first front page story in this reality.

Feeling undeniably proud, but wanting to go home, shower, eat and sleep in that order, Chloe didn't feel the rush from her achievement.

CO-CO-CO

At his office high up over Star City, Robert Queen took a break from work to sip his tea and read the Metropolis papers. He smiled at Chloe's story, feeling proud for her accomplishment, and worried for the danger she'd been in. He shook his head as he read between the lines and realized that Oliver had been the one to rescue her. Then his grin widened as he realized just how much trouble she would give him if they ever figured it out and got together as a couple.

Robert wondered how much longer it would be before Oliver lost his patience with Chloe's secret keeping and attitude towards him, and if the resulting fight would bring them closer together or push them farther apart.

Robert genuinely liked Chloe, she had an integrity that shone through in all her choices. He would have liked her even if she hadn't already been someone he was predisposed to admire. Watching Oliver react to her was just another layer in Robert's enjoyment of her presence in their lives.

Poor Oliver, Robert thought with a smile, he had no idea that he was already five steps into a relationship with a woman who would not be easily won. Robert understood Chloe's attitude towards Oliver. He wasn't the man she'd known. She probably felt disloyal to her Oliver if she would have allowed herself to enjoy this version of him. So instead she met arrogance with attitude, pursuit with denial, interest with disregard, and Oliver was unsure how to proceed.

Robert sent Chloe an email congratulating her on her story, and reminded her that she was welcome to visit with Ali anytime she wished.

Robert and Laura had asked Chloe to visit anytime she liked, with or without Ali, but Robert also knew that Oliver was still digging to find the connection he was missing between his parents and Chloe, and email wasn't a safe communication even if you were emailing one of the premier hackers in the country.

His cell phone rang and he answered without looking at the screen, "Yes dear."

"Did you see today's Daily Planet?" Laura's aggrieved tone came over the line.

"Yes dear."

"She could have gotten killed. And Ollie! I suppose I should be glad he's been following her around, she needed his help."

"Yes dear."

"What are we going to do Robert? Both of them are too pig headed to recognize danger and act in a logical manner."

"Yes dear."

"Robert Queen! If you say yes dear one more time…" she threatened.

"Yes dear?"

"Ooh!" she fumed and hung up on him, but he was smiling. Robert shook his head in amusement. He knew Laura enjoyed their little tiffs. It kept their marriage interesting. He smiled in anticipation of his return home that evening.

With one last glance at the Daily Planet, a stray thought crossed Robert's mind. He'd asked Chloe outright if Oliver had been the Green Arrow in her reality, and she had answered him honestly. Robert worried for his son, but he accepted that the masked vigilante, the protector, was a side of Oliver that could not be denied.

An hour later several dozen roses of varying colors were delivered to Queen Manner with a plain white card and just three words. "I love you."

CO-CO-CO

"_We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people act in a certain way.  
We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have,  
and that is our attitude." Charles R. Swindoll_

The following morning Chloe stood in line at her favorite coffee shop, smiling happily as she read her story in black and white, above the fold.

"Why'd you run away?" Oliver's annoyed tones sounded behind her.

Chloe tried to smile. "Don't tell me that I'm the first girl to sneak out of your arms in the middle of the night," she joked.

"Why do you do that?" he asked with barely repressed anger.

"Do what?" she deflected, accepting her coffee from the barista and turning to leave.

Oliver fell in step with her. "Whenever I ask you something, you deflect. You've never given me an honest answer to anything. Did I do something to offend you? I would remember if I'd tried to pick you up, so that's not it."

"No, I'm not one of your disposable dates," Chloe said with a return of the anger he was used to receiving from her.

"There it is again, the edge of disappointment and derision." Oliver stepped in front of her, forcing her to stop and look at him. "What is it about me that you dislike so much? God knows you get along with my family. Ali worships you like a big sister, I think my mother would like to adopt you. Even my father seems to think you can do no wrong, but I can't seem to do one thing right with you."

"Ollie…" Chloe said, her voice thick with regret and emotion. "You haven't done anything. I… I'm sorry if I've been…"

"Is it your ex?"

"What?" Chloe asked with genuine confusion.

"Ali said I remind you of an old boyfriend. Did he hurt you so bad that you can't look at me without thinking of him?" Oliver asked brushing her hair off her forehead.

"I'm trying," Chloe said weakly, stepping back from him instinctively.

"Maybe we could start over. I'll keep my hands and my lines to myself," he said ruefully, acknowledging that she'd avoided his touch again, "and you can try to see me for me."

Chloe swallowed hard. Oliver was offering her friendship. It was more than she'd allowed herself to hope for, and so much more and so much less than she wanted. She'd kept this Oliver at arms length because he was too close to her Oliver. Seeing him was a constant reminder of what she'd had, what she'd lost. A constant reminder that she was still in love with him. With her Ollie, indiscernible from this Ollie in so many ways.

Chloe didn't know if being friends with this Oliver would be good or bad for her heart, but she knew that causing the look of hurt that was on his face around her was bad for her.

"I can try," Chloe offered tentatively.

CO-CO-CO

"_What you need to know about the past is that no matter what has happened,  
it has all worked together to bring you to this very moment.  
And this is the moment you can choose to make everything new. Right now."_

Chloe is good to her word, and Oliver allows himself to enjoy her company now that all her snarky attitude and sarcasm wasn't pointed at him all the time. She still dodged spending much time with him alone, but she didn't run from him like she used to, and Oliver was content to let things take a natural course.

Slowly, but surely, they became friends. Chloe told him how she'd figured out his was Green Arrow, though he thought her reasoning was sketchy. The fact that the Green Arrow was in Star City so often and tall and moved to Metropolis a little while after he did all seemed thin and circumstantial, but she'd known, so Oliver let it go.

Two days before school let out and Oliver was due to deliver Ali back to parents in Star City for the month long break from school, Oliver is doing yoga, something he'd taken up years ago after he'd been injured due to his own impatience. Oliver was emotional by nature, and learning to control that had come with age and discipline.

He stood in a handstand for several long minutes, his mind carefully blank, his body at ease even as his muscles worked automatically to keep him straight and upright.

The sound of his private elevator arriving, intruded on his zen, but he cleared his mind again, knowing and trusting the handful of people how had the private code to arrive at his private quarters without being buzzed up. The sound of high heels again drew his attention, and he kicked out of the handstand to find Chloe standing a few feet away staring at him with wide eyes.

Oliver smiled and grabbed a black shirt lying on the floor near his yoga mat, but instead of putting it on, he dabbed at the sweat on his face and chest, watching her eyes follow his motions.

"Can I help you with something? Chloe?" he questioned with a smile that spoke of male pride. When she continued to stare at him dumbly, he reached out and cupped her face, tilting it up to meet his eyes. "Chloe?"

"Clark's in trouble," she said in monotone.

Oliver wanted to say that the boy wonder could take care of himself, but he bit back the words. Oliver didn't like Clark. He didn't like his arrogance, his refusal to see how much good he could do in the world, his rejection of Ollie's offer to join his team, or the fact that Ali seemed to have a crush on Clark who'd also dated Chloe. "What can I do to help?"

Chloe's relieved smile was all that Oliver needed to know he'd said the right thing. "I think one of Lionel's old scientist flunkies has him," she explained as she set up her computer and pulled up a satellite map of the area Clark had disappeared in.

"Lionel Luthor?" Oliver questioned sharply.

"Yeah, Lionel… suspected about Clark," she half explained.

"Right, aliens, meteor showers and Lionel Luthor, it all makes a sick kind of sense. What doesn't make sense is you referring to them man by his first name."

"I… grew up in Metropolis, Lionel Luthor was a daily news staple," she tried to shrug it off.

Oliver narrowed his eyes at her, knowing she was lying. "Sure, I'll go with that. For now."

An hour later with access to Queen Industries' satellite data, they'd found a warehouse that was a likely candidate for Clark's locations. Oliver tasked a satellite to do a flyover so they could have real time data while Chloe hacked into the county's building records to get a layout.

"That's not good."

"What?"

"An room reinforced with iron. They could be working with meteor rock, or know that Clark has a hard time with iron. Either way, it's bad news for Clark, but probably means we have the right place."

"Iron? Really? But what about the meteors? I didn't know Clark had any weaknesses," Oliver said absently, still working over his computer. "He came down with them, right?"

"Yeah, but for some reason, green kryptonite, meteor rock, hurts him. It's the radiation. It weakens him."

"Like an allergy?"

"More like poison," she clarified. "Too much exposure and he could die."

"Then we should hurry, and we're in luck, a satellite will be in range in 8 minutes, and two of my team are in town."

CO-CO-CO

* * *

AN- Words 5551 The Queens need to stop hijacking my story or this is gonna be longer than 15 chapters…

If you keep reviewing, I'll keep writing… Oliver and Chloe make some more progress in the next chapter. This chapter had her finally engaging with him, of course it was after she punched him in the eye, but he deserved it. I wanted to include Halloween, but his chapter was done and I still didn't have any brilliant ideas, my Halloween scene from Epiphanies seemed to override anything else I could think up.


	13. Ch13: Green with Jealousy

AN- So if Lionel didn't set up shop in Smallville, and Lex didn't live there after he was a kid, then there is no reason for AC to have come nor for Bart. So Chloe and Clark don't know them.

* * *

**Ch. 13: Green with Jealousy**

"_There are patterns which emerge in one's life, circling and returning anew,  
an endless variation of a theme" Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Chosen_

Chloe and Oliver worked up the mission plan while they waited for Oliver's team to arrive. "There are six guards on the exterior, another five in the facility," Oliver recapped, circling guard locations on the perimeterof the warehouse and drawing the guard's route so that they appeared on the screen.

"I'll enter here," Oliver made a x on the screen, "and…" he broke off to look up to see Victor and AC enter the loft. "AC will enter here, and Victor here. Guys this is Chloe Sullivan. She's helping out today."

Chloe smiled at AC, warm and open and Oliver felt a moment of discomfort. She'd never looked that happy to see him. "It's so good to see… meet you," Chloe offered warmly in greeting, then turned to Victor. Suddenly her happy look faded and Oliver saw shock, guilt, and sadness sweep across her face quickly. "Victor," she said his name with an importance that Oliver didn't understand.

"Yeah, nice to meet you too," AC said, shooting Oliver a questioning look. Oliver shrugged in response, no more knowledgeable of Chloe's odd reactions to things now, than he had been the first time they'd met.

"So, what's the mission?" Victor asked with an awkward smile at the blonde girl who looked vaguely familiar.

"A friend of Chloe's… Boy Scout, is in trouble."

"Boy Scout," AC hooted, "That's even worse than Cyborg."

"Shut it, tuna breath," Victor glared at AC.

"It's Aquaman, just so you know," AC said with a flirty smile to Chloe who tried to smile back but still looked distracted. How could she have forgotten about Victor in all her planning and trips. His whole family had died in the crash that left him in the hands of Lionel's scientists, though… Chloe did the math and realized that Lionel couldn't be responsible for Victor's current cybernetics.

"Wait, Chloe Sullivan, from Smallville?" Victor questioned.

"Yeah," she confirmed, unsure of how she would have known him in this reality.

"We played you for…"

"Homecoming," Chloe finished his sentence, remembering the pictures from her yearbook. "You were Met High's star."

"And you were dating Clark Kent, QB extraordinaire… he's Boy Scout?"

"He is, but we weren't dating. Not senior year anyway," Chloe said quickly.

"Right but he escorted both you and another girl for the homecoming parade at halftime, I remember. People always used to talk about the three of you and the crazy articles you wrote for your paper," Vic recalled.

"Not so crazy now, right?" Chloe said.

"Right," he laughed.

"So you know Clark?" Oliver questioned his teammate.

"Yeah, dude helped me out when I first busted out of SynTechnics."

Chloe looked at AC expectantly, but realized quickly that without the strong Luthor presence in Smallville, Lex wouldn't have built the underwater weapon for the military, and AC would have had no cause to come there.

"Glad we're all friends, let's get started," Oliver said, directing their attention to the building blueprint on screen. He explained the building security, and then Chloe took over.

"Oliver will enter here, and make his way to where we think Clark's being held. AC you'll go in here, and make sure their egress is clear. Victor, you'll make your way to the server room, hack in, monitor security, copy down their files, then destroy their drives if they're… doing bad things." Chloe said awkwardly. She was used to running missions that stopped human experimentation, but this one could be anything.

Oliver had been staring at her the whole time she was talking and Chloe smiled at him tentatively. "Did I forget anything?"

"No, that was perfect. And Chloe here, newly dubbed…"

"Watchtower," she supplied with a soft smile.

"Watchtower, will be directing us on comms."

CO-CO-CO

The mission went well, not that Clark was happy at Chloe's involvement or the fact that she had brought Oliver and his team into the mix. Chloe disregarded Clark's anger, simply telling him to say thank you and let it go.

Chloe spent several sleepless nights trying to decide if she should go back to stop the car crash that had killed Victor's family and left him in the clutches of mad scientists and in her reality – the Luthors. Chloe is fully aware that the possibility of unintentional consequences is high. She could save Victor, but one of Ollie's team could die on a mission if Victor was suddenly not part of the picture. Ollie could die.

Chloe struggled with the decision, but she started researching everything she could about Victor's past and family. If she was going to do this, then she needed to be prepared.

CO-CO-CO

Oliver was sitting at his desk in the Clock Tower loft when Victor and AC arrived on the elevator. "Ollie, we need to talk to you."

"Yeah, OK," Oliver said somewhat distractedly, as he finished up sending a QI report to his father. "What's up guys?" He said turning to face AC and Victor who both looked uncomfortable. Oliver closed his computer giving them his full attention. AC rarely looked somber outside of missions, so Oliver knew whatever they were talking about was serious.

"It's about Chloe," Victor said reluctantly. "What do you know about her?"

Oliver frowned, standing up with tension making his frame rigid. "A lot and hardly anything. Why don't you just say whatever it is you have to say," Oliver said in a hard tone.

Victor looked away, clearly reluctant to proceed. In the few weeks since they'd met Chloe and Oliver had installed her as a new team member, they'd seen Oliver and Chloe interact enough to know how much Oliver liked Chloe, and they suspected it went beyond friendship. He hadn't acted on it, and though Chloe was reserved in most of her interactions with him, anyone could see that Chloe cared about their leader.

There had been one unforgettable moment when Bart had met Chloe and fallen instantly in love with the pretty blond. Oliver had been amused until Bart had draped himself all over her. Chloe had handled it well, letting Bart know she liked him, but that it only went so far as friendship. She'd also diffused Oliver's tension with a few teasing words, and with that the team had accepted her. Chloe had yet to meet Dinah or Zatanna, but Victor was sure that Chloe would win them over as well.

"It's not bad, necessarily," AC said, trying to scale down the sudden tension. "It's just that she…" AC broke off, also having a hard time putting his thoughts into words.

"Is she meta?" Victor asked shortly. "Does she have an ability?"

"Not that I know of, but she spent five years in Smallville, meteor capital of the world, anything is possible," Oliver said slowly. "Have you seen her do… anything?"

"No," Victor said with a negative shake of his head and Oliver relaxed a tiny bit.

"She knows things. Things she shouldn't know, couldn't know," AC explained and Oliver relaxed enough to take his seat again.

"She's a world class hacker, if the information is out there, she'd be able to find it if she wanted."

"Not this stuff. She knows things that aren't online, aren't anywhere that you could find without talking to a few select people. People she has never met. I checked. These are things even you guys don't know," AC explained, still not able to comprehend a logical way that Chloe could know about his mother, Atlantis or any of that story. Unless…

"Is it possible that she's psychic? Or reads minds?" Victor said reluctantly.

Oliver opened his mouth to deny it immediately, but Chloe was a ball of secrets. As close as they'd grown, as much as he knew about her, he knew she still had many, many secrets from him. "Are we talking about her knowing the future or the past? Or actually reading thoughts as you're having them?"

"The past," AC and Victor said simultaneously.

"She did know that I didn't drink coffee," Oliver recalled, something he'd dismissed at the time, but that had popped a flag for him in the moment.

"Everyone knows you don't drink coffee," AC laughed.

"This was the second time we met," Oliver qualified his statement. "And she knew how to use you two in that first mission when I hadn't told her about your abilities yet."

"She knew about the crash, my parents, things that happened in my childhood, things that happened when I was in that science experiment freak show of a facility," Victor offered his proof.

"She knows about my mother too, and… some other stuff, stuff no one knows," AC said, still not willing to share his heritage quite yet.

"You know… for a team that puts our lives in each other's hands all the time, we seem to have a lot of secrets from each other," Oliver said with one eyebrow raised.

Victor and Oliver shared a serious look then smiled. AC shrugged. "Maybe the reason we work as a team is that we allow each other our own space."

"But you want to know Chloe's secret," Oliver said.

"Don't you?" Victor asked, knowing Ollie's tenacious nature.

"I did, I still do. But I trust her, even knowing that there are things, important things, I don't know, I trust her," Oliver explained. "But if you don't, then we're going to have a problem."

"I have no problem with Chloe, she's proven herself to me, to all of us. But if she has an ability, that might be something we should know," AC said and Victor nodded his agreement.

"I'll ask her, I can't promise that she'll answer me, but I can ask," Oliver said with clear reservation.

They planned to call Chloe to a team meeting later that week, but Oliver was called out of town on QI business and they decided to wait for him to return.

CO-CO-CO

Oliver had left Metropolis but Victor and AC had stayed to put together the new space that Oliver had purchased to run team ops out of. Chloe came by one evening after school and work to explore the space, her mind playing memories like movie clips in her head.

Victor and AC enter the room to find her staring into space. "Hey Chloe," AC greeted her.

"Chloe, good you're here, I wanted to talk to you about the server cooling system," Victor said, but Chloe didn't react to either of them.

The guys shared a smile and AC stepped directly in front of her, lowering his head down to her level. "Hey Watchtower, you in there?"

Chloe blinked then blinked again. "AC?"

"Yeah, welcome back?"

"Have a nice trip?" Victor teased.

"Yeah… this is a great space," she tried to explain her distraction.

CO-CO-CO

"_A friend should be one in whose understanding and virtue we can equally confide,  
and whose opinion we can value at once for its justness and its sincerity." Robert Hall_

Later that night, AC had left to pickup food, and Victor and Chloe are both sitting on the floor installing hardware into the server box.

Victor had caught her staring at him several times before he set down his tools and looked at her seriously. "Chloe, if you have something to say, just say it."

Her lips curved up, but she looked tortured. "Victor, I… there is no easy way to say this, no simple way to explain, and then there's the apology I owe you. But before I can even begin I need you to promise that what I say to you stays between us. You can't tell… anyone."

"You mean I can't tell Oliver."

"No, I really mean anyone. No one can know, ever. I shouldn't even risk telling you, I should just do it, keep it to myself, but I…" she shook her head. "Can you promise me?" She laughed, "and can I trust you in this. We barely know each other here, I have no claim to your loyalty…" she paused and he could see her withdraw. "Never mind, just forget my little outburst…"

"Chloe… I have no idea what you're rambling about, but yes, you can trust me. I owe Ollie a lot, but I don't betray my friends, and we are friends now, right?" Chloe had bonded immediately with all the team, but she and Victor seemed to have a special bond. Victor felt it, and he usually took a lot longer to make friends with new people.

Chloe stared at him, reading the sincerity in his eyes. "Promise me, look me in the eye and promise me," she said, her voice only a little over a whisper.

"I promise."

"I'm not… from here." He didn't say anything, but clearly didn't understand what she was saying. "I… wow, this is tough. OK, here goes. I can travel through time. I'm a time traveler." His mouth doesn't fall open but the rest of his face reads as incredulity. "Sounds crazy, I know. But just try to suspend disbelief for a moment."

"OK," he drawled out slowly.

"If you believed that I could go back, but if I could only change one thing in your life… what would it be?"

"My family," he answered immediately.

"And if you still ended up like this? If you still lost Katherine? I don't know if you've made peace with what happened to you here," Chloe questioned.

"What do you mean here?"

"I'm not from this timeline, this reality. I… changed some things, and it's quite a bit different from… where I grew up."

He nodded slowly, things clicking into place. "We knew you, there. We knew you well."

"Yes, we were all still part of Ollie's team. We were friends," Chloe explained.

"That's how you know so much about us," he acknowledged.

"I knew I'd slipped up with you and AC. It's hard to remember sometimes," Chloe said with a rueful grin. "So… if you still ended up as Cyborg… but your family was alive, you'd be OK with that?"

"Yes."

"I'm sorry, so sorry that I didn't do this sooner…"

"So how does it work? You go back to 2006… and what?"

"I see where I can intervene and try to change the outcome. Try to keep them alive," Chloe said simply.

"And what will I remember?" he asked. "This is crazy."

"You won't remember. That's the point. You have a happier, better life, and you only remember that life, not this one."

"And if something goes wrong and it's worse?"

"Then I change it back and if you want, I try again."

"It's that simple?"

"Yes and no. I can't control unintentional outcomes, if I save your parents, I don't know what will happen as a result. Who will their lives touch? Every action they do after the point they were supposed to have died will change things."

"So you'll try to stop the car accident."

"Yes. But sometimes things are meant to happen. It could have just been a moment, an accident, but if there is a thing like fate or destiny, I can't change that. I've changed things for the better and for the worse. I never know how it all falls until it does."

"I'm willing to risk it for my family. But I want to know. If you can take things with you to the past, then I'll record a video, explain it to myself."

Chloe scowls at him. "What is wrong with all of the people in my life? I'm offering to take away your pain, but you still want to know."

"I took my family for granted back then. I don't want to do that again if you get them back for me. Did you know that the reason we crashed is that I was having an argument with my father? He wanted me to take a scholarship to MIT, a great school with an average football team, I wanted to take my shot at the pros and go to Notre Dame, an awesome football school, but only an average science program."

"Victor, you didn't cause the crash. You're not responsible," Chloe said compassionately.

"Do you know what the number one cause of accidents is in the US? Distracted drivers. I was the distraction," he said, refusing to give up his culpability in the deaths of his family.

From outside the double doors to the hallway, AC stands silently, his forehead lined with worry.

CO-CO-CO

Victor insists on being with Chloe when she jumps away to 2006. The car accident had occurred the week before his graduation from high school. Chloe jumped back in time and landed outside the restaurant where Victor had said his family had been before the accident. Chloe found their parked car right where Victor said she would and looking around for witnesses, pulled out a small knife and popped two of their tires. The car sank down to the ground and Chloe leaped back to 2009.

It was quick and easy, but would it be efficient?

Arriving in 2009, Chloe knew that Victor wouldn't be at her apartment waiting for her. If she had changed anything he wouldn't be there. Arriving in the apartment, she scares Lois, who drops the bag of fast food she'd just wanted in the door carrying.

"Jesus!" Lois yelled in fright. Her soda cup cracked open and poured sticky soda all over the floor, but she ignored it and rescued her burger instead. "Maybe a heads up next time, OK, cuz?"

"Sorry," Chloe said with a smile, grabbing a bunch of paper towels to clean up the mess.

Chloe spent that evening wondering about destiny and fate. Victor's family was alive, but the fight with his father had lead to Victor walking home alone, leaving his family to deal with the flat tires. As he crossed the street where the accident had occurred, he was struck by a car. He'd survived, and become Cyborg, joining Oliver's team after he'd left Metropolis after losing Katherine.

Chloe didn't tell him about his other past, she'd promised, but she broke her word. It was better if he didn't know about his family or about her ability. She felt bad, but she thought it was the right thing. It felt wrong to make unilateral decisions about other people's lives, but she also felt like her ability wasn't something most people could handle knowing about.

CO-CO-CO

Chloe had continued dating the doctor, seeing him a few times a month. She also continued to accept dates with guys from her school when they asked, but she still felt so disconnected from the process. It felt like something she should do, something she had to do, but not something she wanted to do.

As her involvement with Oliver's team increased she decided that it was OK for her to say no unless she actually liked the guy. Time was becoming a challenge for her, which she thought was funny, given her ability to change things if she chose to. Between school, the Met U Free Press, the Daily Planet, Watchtower and her friends and family, Chloe was too busy to spend time lost in the past. Her thoughts were occupied by her present, and she also thought that that was a good thing.

When Bruce Wayne came to town to meet with Oliver on business, Chloe had met him by accident. She was waiting to meet the doctor, Matt, at a hotel bar not far from Met Gen, and Bruce happened to be staying there. Bruce was his suave, steady, debonair self, and Chloe had been charmed enough to accept his offer of a drink. When Oliver arrived he was not pleased to see Chloe sitting with his old friend, drinking and laughing unreservedly.

Bruce had been trying to teach her about wine, but Chloe insisted that she knew what she liked and a girl on her budget shouldn't know too much about wine anyway. "With my luck I'd find that I only like the expensive stuff, and without a donor," she raised her glass to Bruce, "That would put a serious hole in my wallet."

"Hmm, a beautiful girl like you can always find a man willing to indulge her," Bruce said with a nod at Oliver who was approaching with a scowl on his face. "Oliver good of you to show, I've had the fortune of beautiful company to occupy me."

"Bruce, Chloe," Oliver greeted tensely.

Bruce's grin grew even as Chloe's fell. "You two know each other. Wonderful. Join us Oliver, I was just teaching Chloe about the different types of wines."

"Honestly, I'm a bit surprised to find that she drinks anything other than coffee," Oliver said.

Chloe's eyes darted between the men nervously, and she smiled overly brightly as her date finally arrived, rushing over to her with excuses for his lateness.

Chloe brushed aside his apologies, gathering her purse and jacket quickly. "Bruce, thank you for the education, Oliver…" she broke off her platitudes as her eyes met his intense gaze.

"See you soon Spitfire," he filled in her hanging silence.

"Yeah."

Her date led her away and Bruce turned to Oliver, "Friend of yours?"

CO-CO-CO

Later that week Bruce pitched in to help the team take down a major smuggling ring in Metropolis that was funneling heroin into Gotham. Bruce was dire and condescending as always and the team did not take to him well, but kept quiet most of them finding him scary.

"Bruce Wayne, Tony Stark, and Ollie, was secret identities and heroism a class they teach in prep school, or what?" Victor had asked when Bruce finally left.

"Yeah, maybe we should look closer at Lex Luthor, who knows, he could be a hero too," Bart agreed.

"I doubt that," Oliver said shortly.

"If Lex manages to be anything other than a villain, I'd say he's a hero," Chloe opined softly. "Growing up with Lionel Luthor as a father must have been horrible."

Oliver stared at her with a muscle ticking in his jaw. "It's late, I'll walk you home Chloe," Oliver said letting the subject of Lex Luthor drop. His tension seemed to ease as she agreed easily to his offer, even if it had sounded more like a demand.

CO-CO-CO

Oliver returned to Metropolis to find Chloe dancing around the still unfinished space Watchtower with AC, singing "Don't get me down" by the Electric Light Orchestra

At first Oliver is stunned to see the sheer amount of hip shaking and joyous, if off key, volume the two are getting. But as they sing along he began to smile. Instead of saying the chorus properly, which was something along the lines of "Don't bring me down, brroosss" they clearly are singing "Don't bring me down, Bruce."

Oliver leans back against to wall to watch as they finish their song but as AC took her in his arms and spun her around until she was giggling and dizzy he dipped her low, pressing his face into her neck with his own chuckles spilling out. Oliver felt each of his muscles tense as he had to resist pulling them apart. Instead he let them know about his presence. "Should I deduce that Bruce was less than grateful for the help he requested?"

Chloe scrambled out of AC's hold, looking guilty. "Ollie, hey, oh, um, you know Bruce. So cheerful."

AC grinned and as he read the slow burning anger in Ollie, and Chloe's awkwardness, his grin only grew. He threw his arm around Chloe's shoulders hugging her to his side. "Yeah, he's a ass, but Chloe here handled him like a pro. If we're voting, I vote to not have that guy around, but Chloe here is a real keeper."

"Glad to see the team is bonding," Oliver said shortly. "I'll pass on your thoughts to Bruce."

CO-CO-CO

Oliver made an effort to involve Chloe in as many missions as possible, appreciating her contribution, her seamless integration into the team and the simple pleasure of her was some tension when she met Dinah, but Chloe won Zatanna over inside of five she seemed to know the right thing to say to start the perfect conversation with each member of the team, and Oliver wondered if maybe she really was psychic. It would explain part of the weirdness surrounding her.

Unfortunately, Chloe seemed to get along with everyone, and some people too well.

When Hal Jordan came to visit Oliver, Hal and Chloe hit it off immediately. Oliver finally acknowledged that he was jealous, even as he tried to convince himself that Chloe wasn't really Hal's type, and Hal wasn't hers. But as they continued to talk and laugh, Oliver acknowledged that Hal's type was very widely defined as a pretty and willing woman, and Oliver had no idea what Chloe's type was. Clark was large, pompous and dark haired. The doctor she dated had an average height and build and dark hair. The only thing the two had in common was that they both helped people and had dark hair.

Oliver had planned to take Hal out on the town that night, but when Robert called and needed Oliver to redo a report that another staff person had prepared but wasn't up to Robert's standards, before the next morning. Oliver wanted to give his father an excuse, but he forced himself to accept his responsibilities. His father was handing over more and more of the job of running QI each month to Oliver and he didn't want to let his father down.

Oliver reluctantly told Hal that he had to work, but that Hal was welcome to use their reservations for dinner and the VIP area at Ace of Clubs later if he wanted.

Chloe frowned at him, not understanding the severe look on Oliver's face. "Ollie, can I help?" she offered kindly.

Oliver smiled tightly. "I got it, thanks for the offer Spitfire. I'm sure you get enough paperwork with your schoolwork and both papers."

"If you're sure," she said reluctantly.

"He's sure, and since Oliver is abandoning me on my first night in town, I think you're obligated to take me out and show me a good time Ms. Sullivan," Hal flirted.

Chloe smiled at him and nodded, but Oliver noted with a tiny bit of satisfaction that she was watching him as he left them to their evening.

CO-CO-CO

When Oliver returned to his loft just after two in the morning, he found Chloe and Hal passed out on the large L shaped couch in his living room. Hal was sitting up his head laying back over the couch, with Chloe's legs in his lap. She was sprawled out on her back her arms raised above her head like how Ali used to sleep as a kid.

Oliver moved closer, taking in her relaxed features, and tousled blonde hair. Dropping down into a squat Oliver rubbed his thumb over her cheek lightly, and wasn't surprised when she opened her eyes.

"Ollie, hey, what time is it?" she questioned softly, with a glance at Hal.

"About two in the morning," he offered, his thumb still sliding over her soft skin.

"I should get home…"

"You don't have school tomorrow, stay here, you can take my bed," he offered chivalrously.

"Where will you sleep?" she questioned trying to sit up and letting Oliver help her slide her legs off of Hal's lap.

"I'll take the spare bedroom. Hal can keep the couch," Oliver smirked.

"I can take the spare room," she offered, stifling a yawn.

"No, take my room. The sheets are clean, I promise." He insisted, not wanting Hal to wake up in the middle of the night and crawl into the guest bed with Chloe.

He helped her to her feet and then up the stairs to his room, pulling out a set of pajamas for her to use. She accepted them with a shy smile and walked into his en suite bathroom to change. Oliver lingered over his own change into night clothes, until she reemerged, swathed in too much fabric from his too large pajamas.

Chloe sat down on the side of his bed, struggling to roll up the sleeves of the pajama top. Oliver crouched down again and took over the task, tucking her into his bed once he was done. Chloe sighed and closed her eyes tiredly. Oliver stroked her hair off her forehead, then walked to the bathroom to fill a glass of water for her, setting in on his nightstand. "Good night Chloe," he said, leaning down to press a brief kiss to her forehead.

CO-CO-CO

While Chloe was a bit hungover then next morning, Hal was bright eyed and ready to go. Oliver insisted on taking care of Chloe, though she insisted she just needed coffee. Oliver decided to kill two birds with one stone, sending Hal out to fetch Chloe's coffee.

The rest of Hal's visit went well, at least once Oliver was convinced that there was nothing more than friendship and a similar sense of humor between Chloe and his old friend.

CO-CO-CO

After Hal's visit, things got back to normal. Spring started to make an appearance in Metropolis with early blooming flowers breaking through the remaining patches of snow and trees starting to send out their first new leaves of the season.

Chloe was in her last semester of college, and was working hard to prove herself at the Daily Planet to ensure that she was a serious contender to the few positions they would be hiring for after graduation. Oliver was careful to not make too many demands on her time, while making sure that she was around enough for them to settle into their friendship. But he couldn't seem to stop picking at the oddities surrounding her.

"You know what's funny? My family's only interest- business or personal- in this region for all these years was right here in Kansas. Smallville, actually," he commented pointedly one day as they finished a late working dinner in the Watchtower.

"Why is that funny?" Chloe asked as innocently as she could, clearing away the Chinese food boxes.

"First they're looking for something, I never knew what… or who, and they focus on this area… then they invest in small town factory that no one has ever heard of…" Oliver continued, following her to the small kitchenette.

"Not true," Chloe argued. "People who like creamed corn know about Smallville. And the factory is making your parents money, it was a good investment."

"So you're suggesting that the draw of… creamed corn… is the explanation?" Oliver asked with an amused tone and one raised eyebrow, leaning down on the counter to put his gaze level with hers.

"Tell me you've never had a good corn soufflé? Creamed corn is a staple of American food," Chloe said earnestly.

"Fine," Oliver conceded, amused at her excuses. "What about you then? Why are my parents so fascinated by you?"

"Are you calling me boring?" Chloe frowned, using all her acting skill to seem confused and a bit insulted by his question.

"No, absolutely not," Oliver grinned, rounding the counter to get closer to her, even as he recognized that he wouldn't get any answers out of her.

"Am I unworthy of the attention of the rich and mighty Queens?" Chloe said with put on indignation.

"You have my full attention Spitfire. I'm just curious that our only investment in the South is in Smallville, the same town that was hit by meteor showers not once but twice, then my parents open a… rehabilitation center… that seems to cater to residents from that same town, and now, years later, two of the most interesting people I've ever met also come from that town. That's too much to be coincidence," Oliver said plainly, awaiting her response.

"If you have some kind of boy crush on Clark, I think you should keep that to yourself," Chloe said with an arch look and quiet tone.

"Cute, you're very cute," Oliver replied, tugging on her hair lightly.

She smiled up at him and Oliver released her hair to cup his hand around her cheek. It was such a familiar move that it stole Chloe's breath even as her pulse raced. Her heart tumbled in summersaults, and for a moment she was lost in his eyes. "I want answers Chloe," Oliver said seriously, stroking his thumb along the smooth skin of her cheek.

Chloe swallowed hard. "And do you always get what you want?"

"As much as I know that this will just make you angry, I have to admit that I usually do."

Chloe smiled up at him and her eyes were full of shadows and secrets. Oliver held her gaze.

"Are you happy Ollie?" she asked in a tone filled with such seriousness and sadness that Oliver made himself consider the question sincerely before answering. She rarely called him Ollie, he knew that when she did she was feeling emotional about something. Something that he wasn't privy to.

"Yes, I am. I have a good life. I couldn't ask for more. Except maybe that Lionel Luthor had never been born."

Chloe abruptly realized that she'd allowed his touch for too long and tilted her chin free of his hand, stepping back. "So there is nothing you would change besides Lionel. Everything else is just as you'd want it if you got to create it yourself," she pursued the topic. She'd thought long and hard about going back to stop the kidnapping, but she was worried about unintentional results. What would Lionel do next if she thwarted him? In the end she'd decided that all's well that ends well.

Oliver frowned, and reached out to grip her face lightly again, tilting her head up so he could see her eyes. She had the most expressive eyes, and though he felt he only read or understood about ten percent of what was revealed there, it was ten percent more than he got from her words alone. "You confuse me Chloe."

"Answer the question, please."

"My life has everything I could have wanted up until this point. But wants and desires are always changing. Ask me again in a few months and we'll see where I'm at."

Chloe felt a tension that she'd gotten so used to holding inside her suddenly loosen and disappear. She reached up one hand to curl around his wrist, pulling his touch away from her. "I'm glad. You deserve the best in life, the very best," she said, her tone barely above a whisper.

"Chloe," he said uncertainly, completely confused now, "What is this about?"

She smiled and it lit up her face, momentarily making all his questions and doubts seem irrelevant. She shook her head and blinked, before bustling back to work at her Watchtower desk, pulling up some schematics on the monitor.

"I will figure it out Chloe," Oliver threatened, unwilling to let her sweep another enigmatic exchange under the rug.

She turned her head to look at him and he saw a sadness so deep on her face that he felt a surge of need to comfort her or shake her until her secrets spilled out. "Why? We all have our secrets Ollie. Are mine so important to you that you'd risk our friendship to discover them?" He drew back, startled at the threat that if he kept after her, she'd cut ties to him. "It's in the past Ollie. I've had to learn to accept the past, accept the things that I can't change or control. It was a hard lesson, and one that… one that cost me more than I could ever understand, but one that gave me more than I could have imagined." The raw pain in her voice and expression disturbed him and he folded her into his arms, despite her initial resistance. "If I've learned one thing, it's to let good enough alone. None of us can live in the past. We have to be present, and let the future lay itself out by the choices we make today."

He hugged her to his chest for a few long minutes, refusing to release her when she tried to pull away. She relaxed against his chest again, and eventually he felt all the tension in her body fade. "I'm not sure I understood all of that little speech Spitfire, and I can't promise to let it go, but I won't let you go either. We're a team now Chloe Sullivan." He finally relaxed his hold on her letting her move back a safe distance. "Besides," he teased, "my family would never forgive me if I did something to hurt you. I honestly think they like you better than me."

Chloe smiled. "Well, I don't know about that, but your family does have good taste."

"Hey," he objected, wrinkling his nose.

"If the tights fit…" she teased him.

"They're not tights," he stated adamantly.

Chloe's only reply was to roll her eyes.

The next day Oliver opened his private email to find an advertisement for green leather tights that did resemble his costume.

CO-CO-CO

Dissatisfied with his progress thus far in discovering whatever the connection was between his parents and Chloe, and knowing his feelings for the little Spitfire were changing, Oliver decided to go straight to the source. On the flight home to Star City a disturbing thought hit him. Oliver cringed at the idea, but it would explain almost everything. Oliver doesn't waste any time going to his own home in Star City, instead heading straight to the manner house to surprise his parents during dinner.

"Mom, Dad, is there any reason I shouldn't date Chloe Sullivan?" Oliver asked abruptly as he entered the dining room at Queen Manner, sending the household staff scrambling to bring him a place setting.

Laura dropped her fork, the silver clattering against the china plate. "You… you're…" She composed herself. "You've asked her out?"

"Not yet."

"But you're interested in her?"

"Yes. She's… unique. When I'm with her I vacillate between wanting to shake her, laugh at her, or kiss her," Oliver said with a smile that spoke volumes.

His mother's face went soft with a smile that lit up the room, but Oliver saw his father's hand move to take hers under the table. Oliver's eyes narrowed. He was certain they were keeping things from him, but he'd need to be careful as he maneuvered to get the truth.

"Why would you think that there would be a reason you shouldn't date her, and if there was a reason that we would know about it?" Robert questioned, his eyes lit with amusement.

"I don't know, your interest in her. The way you look at her like she's some miraculous angelic apparition."

"I happen to like her very much, that's all," Laura defended.

"Right. So… she wouldn't happen to be a relation or something?" The frowns of confusion on both his parents' faces set Oliver's mind at ease. "Uncle Will didn't have a kid before he died? Or grandpa," he said looking at his mother, whose entire family was blonde like Oliver, Alia and Chloe, "didn't have an illegitimate kid that neither of you ever mentioned? Or… maybe one of you?" Oliver went farther, pushing his parents with the supposition, feeling no guilt since they were keeping things from him.

"Oliver Jonas Queen, how dare you suggest such a thing," his mother said acidly, but Robert shot his son a sly look.

"He's teasing Laura. He knows that we haven't been honest with him about some things relating to Chloe," Robert said with ease.

"I thought that maybe Chloe's mother might have also been named Chloe, and maybe was related to one of you. It would help explain things." Oliver said calmly.

"Don't be ridiculous, Oliver. Chloe's mother is named Moira," Laura snapped, still upset at Oliver's accusations.

"Is she? Huh. I don't think I've ever heard Chloe mention her mother, much less by name. And I've spent more time with her than either of you… or so I thought."

Robert smiled at his son's antics, amused even as he knew he'd have to deal with Oliver's tenacious nature and Laura's upset later. "When it became clear that Ali would be attending Met U and that Chloe was going to become a preferred friend, I had her investigated. I take Ali's safety and happiness very seriously," Robert explained away the slip. Oliver tensed up at the reminder that Ali had not always been safe or happy. "Now apologize to me and your mother, Oliver, for that awful insinuation. You come from a long line of faithful husbands and wives, a tradition that I hope you will follow in one day."

His mother had picked up her fork to resume eating again, but Oliver's next words made her set it down with a bang as she lost her appetite.

Oliver grinned. "Commit myself to one woman for the rest of my life? She'd have to be a hell of a woman. I think I've only met one who might make that kind of commitment desirable."

His mother sent him a fuming look, before pushing back her chair and storming out of the room. Oliver grinned at her, "Aw Mom, don't go. Don't you want to know who it is?" he teased. A slamming door was her only reply.

"Oliver," his father said in an exasperated tone. "I know you're frustrated that we're not sharing everything with you, but you need to let this go. Chloe Sullivan is a fine young woman, and you could do much worse. Don't mess up what you could have with her over things that are long past."

Oliver grinned and began eating as the staff set a plate in front of him, knowing he'd have to sweet talk his mother and probably send flowers and volunteer his time at some charity event to get back in her good graces, but he had managed to get his father to admit that there was more to the story of Chloe's relationship with his parents than previously admitted. And both Chloe and Robert had referenced the past. Oliver didn't understand it, couldn't even begin to fathom what they meant but he knew that the past was key to the secret they were keeping.

Whatever they were hiding, the answers were in the past, and Oliver had no way of discovering them without one of them sharing. Oliver couldn't understand how Chloe and his parents could have crossed paths before. But suddenly as he let go of the awful suspicion that Chloe might be his cousin or half-sister, he realized that it didn't matter as much as he'd thought before.

The bottom line was that he trusted his parents and he trusted Chloe. He wouldn't give up his pursuit of the truth entirely, but he wasn't going to let it stand in his way of beginning a romantic relationship with Chloe any longer.

The truth would come out, it always did. But for now Oliver had more pressing matters on his mind. Like where to take Chloe on their first date, and how badly Clark would react to Oliver's interest.

CO-CO-CO

The next day, Oliver attempts to make up with his mother, but they end up talking about Chloe again. "It's clear how much you like her, it was right from the beginning, and usually with anyone else you would have steam rolled over any objections they had to doing whatever it was you wanted, which in this case was to spend more time with Chloe," Oliver explained his rationale for his suspicions. "But with Chloe… it's almost as if you owe her something. What was I supposed to think? You're lying to me, acting beholden to her, she's acting like she's hiding something and is guilty and… almost scared of whatever it is. Jesus, why can't you just tell me what the big secret is?" Oliver let his aggravation show through.

Laura could hear the genuine frustration in her son's voice and felt compassion and regret. "Because I can't, it's not just my secret, and I do owe someone, we all do. This person gave us the biggest gift anyone ever could, and you will listen to me Oliver Jonas Queen. Let this go. In time you may find out what our secret is, and when and if you do, you'll understand the debt we owe. As much as I love you I will not betray this person's trust. We own them everything."

"Chloe. The one from the past, that's the person right? You might as well just admit it." Oliver said, his brain trying to make sense of the words. It almost sounded like his mom was saying that the Chloe from the past had given them Ali, but Oliver had been there, he'd seen his mother's pregnancy proceed, and he'd been in the room for the birth, though he'd stay far enough back to not see something that might scar his young psyche.

"I'll admit nothing," Laura said with her tone broking no doubt that she wouldn't budge on this issue. "There is nothing to admit. No one did anything wrong. I thought I'd raised you better Oliver, just because you want something, in this case to know something, doesn't mean you are owed it." She paused to see if her words had had any effect, but Oliver just looked stubborn.

Robert swore Ollie got it from her, but Laura knew that Robert was no pushover himself. It made sense that they had a bullheaded son. "Ollie, no matter where you look, how long you think about it, you won't find the answers you're looking for. There is nothing to find, this is a truth that must be given to you. Be good, be strong, make good decisions, and listen to your heart and you'll find what you're looking for."

Oliver forced himself to relax his shoulders and smile at his mother. "You make it sound like a quest, knights of the round table and magical sorcerers," Oliver relented.

"There are many kinds of magic in the world. Like love. The power of love to bring out the most selfless acts in us, that's a special kind of magic."

"Just as long as Chloe isn't related to us." Oliver said with one last look at his mother who glared back at him. "Do you think she'll agree to go out with me?" Oliver asked his mother, feeling unsure of a woman for the first time in nearly a decade.

"Chloe? I think she might. You'll have to earn her love Oliver. She's had a rough road, be gentle, be patient, and for God's sake, don't mess it up!"

CO-CO-CO

* * *

AN-A LOT of reviews for the last chapter, and it seems the faster I post, the faster y'all want it. I'm trying but this weekend was busy and my work schedule can be nutty- or at least it makes me nutty.

Not so much of the Queens in this chapter, but the team made an appearance, and Bruce and Hal. And y'all know now Oliver's intent for his relationship with Chloe.

Words 7821


	14. Ch14: New Beginnings

_While each reader is allowed to make their own determination on the story, I would like to offer my intent with some things as far as facts in the story. I did plan to have AC know about Chloe's time travel after Victor "forgot." But that doesn't make sense. While Victor still ended up as Cyborg, keeping his parents alive would change a lot for him, so the moment where he and Chloe talked about his family and her ability didn't happen in the newest reality. He doesn't remember his previous/other past, and Chloe hasn't shown him the video he made, so he has no idea. AC did overhear, but again it didn't happen in this, newest, reality. Lois does know about Chloe and what Chloe did to change her past, but she doesn't remember the old past—she remembers the past that Chloe altered, the new one, but knows about the previous version from her letter to herself. Whew. Time travel fics are hard._

_I am ignoring Clark and Kara for most of this story, I claim that as my right. Though I suppose, as someone pointed out that a version of Kara exists in stasis in her ship under? Near? The dam. Lex never blew it up (or whatever) so she's still there… though she is also back on Krypton in the past…_

_Seriously, I thought I was done with the time travel part of this story…_

_And the Queens are at it again… sneaking in and taking up story space._

* * *

**Ch. 14: New Beginnings**

CO-CO-CO

(Star City, January, 1990) Robert Queen looked at the report before him. A childless couple in Smallville had adopted a young boy out of the blue in the months after the meteor shower. No one in the town appeared to have known the Kent's were pursuing adoption and from what Robert could tell they didn't have the resources to finance a private adoption. Martha Kent's father, William Clark, had been instrumental in pushing the adoption through a private agency and no information on the birth parents had been recorded, or else Robert would have it in his possession.

Robert picked up a photo of the child playing in a field on the farm. Now named Clark, the boy looked human. Robert made a note for his investigators to follow up on the child and family in six months to see if there were any signs of… anything. Robert set the papers down and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He was a man of logic, of science. He had built a multinational company that turned profits in the billions of dollars, but dealing with time travelers and aliens from galaxies far away still hurt his mind.

Robert looked at Laura who was sitting across his desk from him. He wished she would leave this stuff to him, but of course she refused. They'd started fertility treatments just two weeks earlier and Laura looked faintly nauseous. He rang his secretary to bring in a pot of mint tea. Laura looked up at him with a warm smile. "I'm fine."

"Please take this in the spirit it is offered, but you don't look fine."

"I'm fine," she insisted.

"We could adopt," he argued.

"Oliver is already nine, he'll be ten before too long. I want to try to conceive a child. We agreed to give it two years. If we're still not successful we can proceed with an adoption," she said calmly. "So many Chloe's out there…" she changed the subject.

"We said a year and we don't even know if we're looking in the right age range for her."

"We said two years, and she has to be between two and 15 by now, I refuse to believe that our son grows up to date anyone with more of an age difference than that," she countered his claim. "But I'm guessing that she was younger than Oliver, she must have been somewhere between 19 and 23. If she was the same age as Oliver he would still be too young for her to be so sure he wouldn't get past our deaths."

Robert felt the instinctive clenching of his muscles at her discussing their deaths and orphaned son so easily. She'd accepted the information Chloe had offered much easier than Robert had. "Is that why you instructed the investigators to only look for little girls named Chloe between the age of two and eight? Because you're sure our grownup son will date younger women, but not too much younger?" He said with humor.

"It is," she said pithily, accepting the pot of tea from his secretary with a welcoming smile. She took the time to ask about his employee's children and a new roof they'd put on their house. Laura smiled kindly and brushed aside the thanks the woman offered for Laura's gift of a month's worth of meals delivered ready to eat, and a cleaning service to come by to give her home a good spring cleaning. The woman rubbed her swollen stomach, clearly at the midpoint in a pregnancy. "Nonsense, you're part of the Queen Industries family, and with two young boys running around, and a third on the way, a tiny bit of assistance from me can only be the smallest relieve."

The woman rubbed her stomach with a smile. "We're hoping this one is a girl."

"I'm sure he or she will be beautiful," Robert agreed and the woman exited. "Once you're pregnant you'll have to leave this business to me."

"I want a baby Robert, and I want to find Chloe, those are two things I can manage to do at the same time I promise you. This is our family, and while I enjoy seeing this manly protective side of you, I will make you miserable if you try to keep any of this from me," she said sweetly, as she poured him a cup of tea.

"Yes dear," he agreed with clear reluctance.

She picked up the file he'd been looking at. "Is this a candidate for the Traveler?" He nodded. "Chloe said that he was no threat to us, why are you so insistent to find him? Our finding him might lead Lionel to his doorstep."

"Lionel is already looking. He found one boy, a runaway or maybe someone who was orphaned in the meteor shower, but apparently Lionel decided he had the wrong child. He abandoned him at an orphanage last week."

"That's horrible, that poor child."

"Laura, I know you liked Chloe, and I trust her… to a certain extent." Laura shot him a fuming look and he relented. "I trust her, but she told us that the future she came from wouldn't be the one we lived. By living we changed things. We need to be prepared for any contingencies. And we must be vigilant in our security and preparations. If the Traveler is half as powerful as Virgil thinks he could be we need to be able to protect ourselves, and be ready to protect him from Lionel if and when the time comes."

"Chloe said-" she began but he interrupted her.

"I know what Chloe said, but she also said we had to take charge of our own lives, protect ourselves, that is what I'm doing," he said in a powerful tone that spoke of anger and determination.

"No need to be rude about it." She looked down at her list of girls named Chloe again. "I think I'll ask the investigators to focus on the areas around Metropolis. We know she's not in Smallville or Granville."

Robert smiled at his wife and shook his head. If something happened to him he knew Oliver and QI would be in good hands with Laura. The woman was too tenacious to fail at anything.

CO-CO-CO

(2010) Chloe stood in a room full of sharply dressed men and women wearing ball gowns. Her own gown stood out in a sea of dark fabrics. The gold lame fabric draped over one shoulder to hug across her breasts, leaving most of her back bare as well as her arms. A band of fabric defined her waist with a lose straight fall of fabric with no slit making the skirt. Lois was nearby in a navy blue gown that hugged her every curve and showed off her cleavage, much to her father's disapproval.

Chloe looked around, recognizing many of the attendees. The night was serving a dual function – to honor military service and raise funds for the veterans' services. She looked around and made a move to grab a glass of Champaign from a passing waiter, but he moved away from her too quickly. Chloe frowned then turned with a smile as a fluted glass was extended to her, her eyes rose to find that the hand holding out the offering to her was connected to Lex Luthor.

"Ms. Sullivan, allow me," Lex opined softly.

"Thank you," Chloe accepted politely. She wasn't sure what her efforts had resulted in for Lex. She knew the facts but not if he'd become a better, more centered, person for the changes.

"I assume you are here with Oliver Queen," Lex surprised her.

"No, I'm not." Her look of curiosity didn't go unanswered.

"When Oliver Queen moved here in preparation for his sister attending college at Met U, I made it my business to keep up with their movements in Metropolis. With the history between our families it wouldn't do to have any mishaps while they're here."

Chloe nodded her acceptance, not hearing any treat or hidden meaning in Lex's words. "I'm here with my uncle Sam." She indicated the tall proud man wearing his dress uniform standing not far away.

"General Sam Lane is your uncle?" he said with interest.

"Yes, do you know him?"

"No, I haven't had the pleasure, he's been an opponent to a military project I've been supporting at LuthorCorp."

Chloe knew Lex had been doing good work at LuthorCorp since taking over from Lionel. As far as she could tell there were no unauthorized human experiments, no research into meteor rock, nothing to cause concern. "Would you like me to introduce you?" Chloe offered.

Lex momentarily appeared surprised and Chloe could tell he was used to being judged by his father's deeds. She led him over to Sam Lane and made Sam aware that Lex had offered her an interview opportunity years before when he'd had nothing to gain by it. Chloe could tell Sam wasn't open to working with Lex or LuthorCorp, but he put a polite face on it.

Chloe felt a pull to look across the room just as Oliver entered. He was supposed to be out of town but here he was instead, looking dapper and refined in a tailored black tuxedo.

Oliver scanned the room and smiled when his gaze landed on Chloe. He moved towards her immediately, his step faltering when he noticed who she was standing with.

Oliver's face tightened into a pinched expression and Chloe felt a moment of guilt before pushing aside the errant feeling. She wasn't doing anything wrong. Lex wasn't a villain in this reality, and Oliver had no claim on her. Things were getting muddled between them, but Chloe didn't have the heart to push him away anymore. Sometimes she caught him looking at her the way her Oliver had. Chloe wasn't sure that starting anything with this Oliver was a very good idea, but neither did she think it was in her power to resist if he made any effort.

She had loved her Oliver, she cared for this one deeply, but she'd left her Oliver, ignored his stated wishes and done what she thought best for him, and she was lying to this Oliver every time they met. It was a hard burden to carry.

Oliver arrived at her side and Chloe smiled up at him in greeting, but her eyes were serious. "Chloe, you're stunning as always," Oliver greeted her, wrapping a possessive arm around her back and kissing her cheek before turning to face Lex. "Lex Luthor."

"Oliver, I just read the Time article on your family's involvement with rebuilding Sudan. If you're interested LuthorCorp has some new water purifying technology that could be adapted to the region cheaply and quickly. We're not ready to deploy yet, but if you were interested, I could reallocate some resources to make it happen faster." Lex steered the conversation smoothly away from dangerous topics.

Chloe beamed and Oliver's hold on her tightened. "I'll mention it to my mother, she's really the force behind the foundation's work."

"I can understand that, my mother is similarly interested in charity work."

Chloe's eyes darted from one young billionaire to the other as silence settled between them. "I bet Laura and Lillian would have lots in common," she offered.

"Doubtful," Oliver said with a heavy negativity. "So Spitfire, should we dance before or after I meet your uncle?"

"Ms. Sullivan, always a pleasure, I'll leave you to your escort," Lex bowed out elegantly.

Chloe smiled at Lex, then turned to Oliver. "That was rude Ollie, Lex isn't his father, and he's not guilty of his father's sins."

"You're right," Oliver agreed too easily and Chloe frowned. "Why choose, we can dance now, then I'll face the firing squad, and then we can dance again."

"Ollie," Chloe protested his ignoring her words, but let him sweep her onto the dance floor. "No one is dancing."

"Not true, we are dancing, and trust me, people will soon follow our lead." Oliver was correct and soon others were dancing too, including Lex and his date, a tall blonde.

Across the room, General Lane was staring at Chloe as she danced with the tall billionaire. Lois. What's Chloe's relationship to Oliver Queen?"

"No relationship, sir." Lois answered promptly.

He shot her a disbelieving look. "You're protecting your cousin?"

"Never leave a man behind, sir," she said in a regimented way, then relaxed and shrugged. "Nothing's happened yet, but you can see them, what do you think?"

"Trouble."

"Dad," Lois protested.

"For him, if he hurts her. I know his father, good man. And his mother, a beautiful woman. Is he good enough for Chloe?"

"I think so."

The General took his eyes off the couple, seeing Chloe's beaming smile and Oliver's obvious attempts to make her laugh as the spun around the dance floor, turning to face his eldest daughter. "High praise."

"Yes."

"Too bad he doesn't have a brother, we could find you a suitable boyfriend if you insist on having one."

Lois rolled her eyes.

CO-CO-CO

(Star City, March, 1991) "Is that child holding a tractor up?" Laura cried with incredulity, looking at a picture from the file Robert had given her.

"It appears so," he agreed mildly, not bothering to look at the picture he was sure he would never forget of a young child, no more than five years old, holding a tractor off the ground.

"So, Clark Kent is the Traveler. What next?"

"Nothing, we leave the boy and his family in peace unless they need our help. Virgil agrees with me."

"Oh. Well if Virgil agrees…" Laura said with thick sarcasm.

"I don't remember you being this… easily upset during your pregnancy with Ollie," Robert commented idly. His hand shot up to deflect the pillow that she launched at his head.

"I was ten years younger then, it all seemed like an adventure, and I didn't have a ten year old to chase after," she complained shifting on the overstuffed chair she was in, trying to find a comfortable position.

He stood up from his own chair and bend down to collect the pillow missile from the floor. Reaching her he shifted her forward and rubbed her back for a few minutes, feeling the tension she was carrying there. Sliding the pillow into place he set her back and she sighed. "Sometimes I hate you."

"You love me," he corrected her, pressing a kiss to her temple before sitting on the footstool that matched her chair and picking up her feet to rub them. "And it was your idea to have a second baby."

"You're so supportive dear, how would I ever get by without you," she grumped, jabbing his ribs with her toes, but letting him recapture her foot to continue rubbing it.

"It's me who wouldn't know what to do without you Laur."

They shared a smile the spoke of love and commitment. "We got lucky didn't we? Finding each other, having Ollie," she mused.

"I definitely got lucky, but you must be paying penance for a former life. Did you see what Ollie did to the back fence?"

"You mean painting our redwood fence with a dozen red, yellow and green bulls-eyes? Then making a thousand dents in it with his arrows? Yes. I did. And it'll be your responsibility to hold him to his grounding. My only job for the next six weeks is to keep this one in here until I'm at least 38 weeks," she said while rubbing her belly with affection for her unborn child.

"We're going to have our family Laura, and our lives. Lionel won't take anything from us, I promise," he said emotionally.

"Don't make promises you can't keep," her eyes filled with tears as kept rubbing her large rounded belly. "Just promise me that you'll always love me and that Oliver and Chloe will be taken care of- no matter what."

"Oliver and Laura," he countered.

"I'm not naming my child after myself. Oliver and Ophelia."

"Not going to happen."

"Ophelia or Chloe," she offered.

"Oliver and Ashley," he disregarded her either/or choice.

"Ash Queen? Do you even think these things through? Oliver and…"

"Allison?" he offered up, still rubbing her feet and calves.

"Ali. Short for… Alicia."

"Alicia. I can live with that," he agreed, smiling at his wife who had been insisting on naming their child Chloe.

"Alicia Chloe Queen," she said with one eyebrow raised as if to dare him to object.

"No," he said sternly. "Laur, think about it, do you want Oliver to associate the name Chloe with family, his little sister?" Laura's smile faltered and he smiled in triumph. "I didn't think so. You my dear, are beautiful, but also a hopeless romantic."

"Why shouldn't I want my son to find the woman who loved him enough to travel through time to give him a better life?"

"Our son."

"Tell me that after you've carried a child," she huffed at him.

CO-CO-CO

(2010) On the flight back to Metropolis, Oliver considered what he knew about Chloe, only this time he wasn't trying to ferret out the truth, he was looking for a way to make her more ameniable to his interest in expanding their relationship.

Chloe hadn't fallen at his feet, eager for his attention, time and money like so many other women. Even later when they'd gotten to know each other better, she had looked at him with eyes that seemed to pierce to his soul, stripping bare his insecurities, and faults. She wasn't impressed by him, but she did seem to like him. At least she seemed to like him now, at the beginning was a different story, he thought with a wiry smile.

Oliver was sure she was attracted to him, she responded physically to him. But Chloe lived so much in her head, he wasn't sure passion and lust would get him in the door. Neither would gifts or flattery. He'd have to put some thought into how to make sure she was in a receptive mood when he asked her out on their first date.

CO-CO-CO

Oliver surprised Chloe at her favorite coffee shop a few days later, handing her an envelope thick with papers and photos. She slid them out and examined them with wide curious eyes. When she'd finished looking through his gift she looked up at him with shining eyes. He'd just handed her all the proof she needed to prove that the mayor had known all along what his chief of staff was doing, taking bribes to allow the development of a new subdivision on wetlands.

"Why'd you do this? Not that I'm not grateful, but… why?"

"I wanted to get you something… I thought about a coffee plantation in Costa Rica, but… this seemed more appropriate. And you know what they say, buy local."

"I love it," Chloe laughed. "Not that I would object to coffee, but maybe a weekly subscription, not an actual plantation."

"Note to self," Oliver said, turning to follow her out of the café. He walked her back to work, enjoying even the few minutes with her.

CO-CO-CO

"You're kidding," Ali said with a look of absolute seriousness as she faced her brother across the kitchen island in his loft home in Metropolis.

"No, I'm not."

"Let me rephrase," she replied with a tight smile and overly sweet tone that reminded Oliver strongly of their mother, "You have _got_ to be _freaking_ kidding me."

"Ali…"

"No," she stated with a sharp hand movement.

"I wasn't actually asking for your permission," Oliver said in a reasonable tone, but Ali wasn't buying.

She lost her grip on whatever calm she had and glared at him. "Is that what this week has been about?" she asked her voice rising in pitch and volume. "This _whole_ week, you being so nice to me…"

"I'm always nice to you Ali," Oliver protested.

"You brought me my favorite gelato from home, you took me to dinner, you let me pick the movie tonight, and didn't freak out when you met Mike," she ticked off each item on her fingers, "but none of that was about me, it was all about you. Trying to butter me up so I'd be OK with you dating Chloe!" she continued loudly.

"Ali, I like spending time with you, I was home in Star City to see Mom and Dad and I thought I'd bring you a little bit of home, but yeah, OK, dinner tonight and letting you pick the movie was to make sure you were in a good mood before I broached the subject," Oliver admitted, his own mood darkening at the memory of meeting the boy Ali had been "hanging out" with.

"So you admit it!" she screeched.

"I love you Ali, but you need to take it down a notch."

"Fine," she huffed with wounded dignity. "You asked my opinion, now you know it. I don't want you to ask Chloe out. I don't want you to flirt with her, date her, or do anything else with her. Nothing Oliver." Ali said and Oliver realized she wasn't going to back down from this. Ali stared at her brother and took in his unyielding expression. Tears filled her eyes. "No Ollie, I'm asking you not to do this. Chloe is my friend. One of my only real friends," she began to cry in earnest and Oliver moved forward to comfort her.

"I know, I know you care about her, I'm not going to interfere in that, Ali."

"You say that now," she said delivering a slap to his arm even as she cuddled into his broad chest. "But you know what happens Ollie. Either you'll date her for a few weeks or a year, and I don't know which would be worse, but you'll break up, you always do, and I never care," she blubbered, "except for Miranda, I actually liked her, but not Chloe!"

"You don't like Chloe?" he teased. "I'm confused."

She pulled back from him and glared at him fiercely. "I love Chloe, Ollie, I don't just like her, I love her. She's great, and she makes me feel good about myself, and she doesn't care that I'm a Queen or a geek or silly, she doesn't care when I spill things or trip, or that I'm not as smart as you or as pretty as Mom, or as focused as Dad. She just likes me and I won't let you take that away from me."

Oliver blinked in shock. He'd seen changes in his baby sister since she'd moved to Metropolis, but he'd thought that most of it was just being more independent and getting older. But Ali seemed to attribute her feeling better about herself to Chloe's presence in her life. He knew Chloe had a knack of encouraging Ali and making Ali believe in herself when if one of their family had said the exact same thing, Ali would have disregarded it.

"Ali, nothing that happens between me and Chloe will affect your friendship with her," Oliver insisted.

"Yeah right," she said, wiping away her tears with ungraceful swipes of her hand.

Oliver felt the tugs on his heart that he always felt when faced with a truly unhappy Ali. "I promise, Ali. Chloe isn't like the other women I've dated. She's special, and I care about her. I'm not going to hurt her. Just…" he bit his tongue before he could complete that thought, telling her to relax would be a very bad move. He knew that from previous experience. Ali felt her emotions very deeply, and Oliver didn't want to upset her anymore than she already was.

"You really like her?" Ali questioned, staring up at her brother to read his face, seeing only honest emotion there. "But she doesn't like you Ollie."

"Thanks, kiddo, but I think I've grown on her," Oliver said dryly.

Ali looked skeptical but Oliver comforted himself that she'd at least stopped crying. "She said she doesn't like pompous jackasses and she prefers guys who aren't as… confident as you," Ali said with a smirk.

"What did she really say brat?"

"That you were a pompous jackass," Ali sassed.

"The other part smartass," Oliver commanded, having no problem imaging Chloe calling him a jackass.

"She said she prefers men who are more humble."

"Hmm, that could be a problem," he mused.

Ali smiled, then grew serious again. "Ollie, promise me, promise me that if you aren't totally serious about Chloe, if you don't feel like you could really love her, I mean really, love her, then don't do this."

"I promise."

"Pinky swear," she demanded, holding up her hand with her smallest finger crooked at him.

Oliver grinned, and hooked his much larger finger through hers like he had when she was just a child. "Pink swear," he confirmed.

Ali still didn't look happy with him, but she wasn't freaking out and Oliver was going to take that as a win given how the conversation had started. "She did say you were pretty, but she didn't seem sold on it," Ali said haughtly causing Oliver to nod lightly.

"Sounds like I've got my work cut out for me," he said offhandedly while he reeled Ali into another hug. But as soon as she was in his arms he began tickling her incessantly.

She'd been begging for mercy for a few minutes before he finally stopped, both of them on the kitchen floor with Oliver pinning her down so he could get access to her stomach and ribs. "So I guess the niceness is over?" Ali said breathlessly.

"Absolutely, so don't be surprised if your friend Mike shows up with some unexplained injuries in the next few days."

"Ollie. If you even have a conversation with him that I don't approve of in advance I'll tell Chloe every jerk move you ever made with a girl."

Oliver frowned but Ali smiled at him sweetly when he opened his mouth and he read the threat in her eyes easily. "You're getting to be more and more like mom every day, kiddo."

"Thanks," Ali smiled brightly at the compliment.

""It wasn't a compliment."

Ali laughed and tried to push him off her so she could get up off the floor. "Next thing I know you'll want to ask out Vanessa."

"Vanessa is a very pretty girl," Oliver agreed, thinking of his sister's friend who had grown up in Metropolis and also attended Met U, sharing a dorm room with his sister. "But I think she might be a bit young for me," he concluded.

"That and Victor would so kill you if you tried anything," Ali teased thinking about Vanessa's big brother who was friends with Ollie and worked for him in some capacity.

CO-CO-CO

The next day, Oliver had his fill of excitable women. He was working out in his home when his private secretary came up the stairs looking harassed and red in the face. Close on her heels was Lois Lane. His secretary stumbled over her apologies, and irritation at Lois's insistence at being allowed to see him. "She says she is Chloe, Ms. Sullivan's, cousin."

"I am," Lois said stridently, eyeing Oliver's shirtless body.

"She is, thank you Sarah, please take a long lunch on me," Oliver offered as consolation. His secretary shot Lois another peeved look, then exited rapidly.

"Hmm, nice I can see why she… you know, never mind," Lois smiled brightly.

"She, being Chloe?" Oliver asked while pulling a shirt on to avoid Lois's avid stare.

"What other she would I be here to discuss? Keep up billionaire boy. It's a good thing you've got money and looks cause you're not impressing me in the brains department."

Oliver stared at Lois as if she was not quite all there.

"So, Chloe. My cousin. Cute little blonde with great boobs?" Oliver finally reacted to her words and she smirked. "Yeah I thought that would jog your memory."

"What are you doing here Lois?"

"I just want to know if you actually have the balls to take what you want or if I should start looking for guys to set her up with."

"Chloe is a person, not a possession, I can't just take her."

"Oh please, you _so_ could. But for the sake of argument, first you should be all chivalrous, and gentlemanly, then just.. rawr!" she said with the accompanying hand gesture of a claw.

"Right, well, this has been enlightening. Thanks for your support, do you think you can find your own way out or should I get some of my security to escort you to the exit?"

"Listen pal, Chloe isn't some prissy, wimpy model like you're used to dating, she's strong and smart and intelligent, and she deserves a man with cajones. So if your balls fell off from some disease you caught slutting around, just tell me know and I'll make sure Chloe is so distracted by yummy male goodness that she forgets she ever met you."

"I assure you Ms. Lane, my… manhood is more than capable of figuring out how to approach your cousin."

"Hrumpt, I'll believe it when I see it, bud." She turned to leave, just as security arrived to escort her out. "That should get him going," Lois said with satisfied glee under her breath.

"_One day at a time-this is enough. Do not look back and grieve over the past for it is gone;  
and do not be troubled about the future, for it has not yet come.  
Live in the present, and make it so beautiful it will be worth remembering."_

Chloe was at Watchtower, doing research for Oliver on some doctor who was rumored to be experimenting on meteor infected people. "And here I thought this was a better future," Chloe grumbled.

"What's that Spitfire?"

"Nothing," she said with a bright smile. "This guy just makes me sick."

"You find him, we'll stop him," Oliver promised.

"You're a good man Ollie," she said softly.

"Do you really think so?" he asked with more seriousness than she thought was called for.

"Yes."

"Good, 'cause there's something I've been meaning to ask you."

"What is it?" she asked with worry lining her forehead.

"Remember how you asked me if my life had everything I could want?" he led her into the conversation.

"Yeah, of course."

"Well there's something I want, something that could make me very happy, and only you can help me with it."

"What?" she asked in confusion, clearly trying to think of what he could be talking about.

"It's simple really, I just want your agreement on something."

"On what?" she asked with suspicion creeping into her face and tone.

"Do you trust me Chloe?" he asked seriously, but she could see his eyes gleaming with humor.

"Yes…" she said slowly.

"Have dinner with me."

Her face scrunched up in confusion, and Oliver tapped her nose. "Like a date?" she questioned.

"No," he replied, seeing her eyes dim. "Not like a date, an actually date. A first date that will lead to a second and a third date, and however many more until you stop counting."

A slow smile spread over her face as she looked up at him. "Who said I was the kind of girl who counted dates?"

"Don't all girls count dates?" he bantered back.

"Not me."

"Then say yes, so I can date a sane, beautiful, intelligent woman, and prove that they really do exist."

She bit her lip and Oliver had to physically restrain himself from kissing her right then and there. "Yes."

"Yes," he repeated.

* * *

_AN- I had to push myself to finish this chapter… The asking her out scene wouldn't shape up in my mind, so I had to force it out while typing… so clearly this isn't going to end in the next chapter… but soon._

_Words 5290_


	15. Ch15: First Dates and Family

I'm writing out of order again, just wrote a big scene that doesn't happen for awhile yet.

* * *

**Ch. 15: First Dates and Family **

"_A great source of calamity lies in regret and anticipation; therefore a person is wise who thinks of the present alone, regardless of the past or future." Oliver Goldsmith _

(April, 2010) – Getting ready for her 'first' date with Oliver, Chloe couldn't believe it was actually happening. Another reality, and somehow she and Oliver had found their way to each other. Chloe tried not to get ahead of herself. Her mantra was that it was just a date. 'Just a date.' Unfortunately the butterflies in her stomach didn't agree.

Also not helping was Lois, who was puttering around Chloe as she got ready, buzzing with her own nervous excitement for her cousin. "I can't believe you don't know where you're going. You should have called him and made him tell you. How are you supposed to know what to wear? Call him now, it's not too late," Lois rambled.

Chloe disregarded Lois and pulled two dresses, one blue and one black, from her closet. Laying them on the bed she smiled at Lois and went into the bathroom to put on her makeup, her hair already done and falling in shiny waves around her face. Lois looked in askance at Chloe's outfit choices and picked up both and put them back in the closet, taking out another, a sleeveless beige dress with a belted waist and laid it on the bed. Frowning for a moment Lois glanced over at the open bathroom door. "You should wear that raspberry lip gloss," she called. "Makes him look at your lips."

Chloe laughed and Lois darted into Chloe's closet to retrieve the blue dress she'd but back in then snuck it out of the room. Chloe walked back into her bedroom and shot an amused look at her bed, where just one outfit laid. She arched one eyebrow, amused, but not surprised. Picking up the dress, Chloe put it back in her closet. Lois came back into the room and frowned.

"Wear it."

"No," Chloe defied her bossy cousin.

"It's hot."

"Yes, it is, it also shows off my entire chest," Chloe said complaining about the deep V of the dress Lois had chosen.

"Then why do you even have it?" Lois complained.

"You bought it for me, and who knows when I'll have to resort to cleavage to get a story or into a club or… God knows what."

"Oh." Lois tried to remember buying it for Chloe. "Well, I have good taste."

Chloe emerged from the closet holding another dress, and Lois gave her a horrified look. "Not happening, cuz."

"Tell me where my blue dress Lo, or I wear it," Chloe threatened. "There's nothing wrong with that dress Lo."

"You mean your blue dress that is perfectly acceptable if you were having dinner with your dad, attending a baby shower, or having tea with the Queen?" Lois said causing Chloe to cock her head and wonder if she meant the Queen of England or Laura Queen. "No, it's fine, except it doesn't show off any of your best assets. Boobs, butt, and waist Chlo. I'm not leaving until you have an outfit choice that shows off two of the three."

The cousins stared each other down, but Chloe finally caved. "You're lucky I love you," Chloe grumbled. She walked back to her again, and emerged carrying a black dress halter style dress with U shaped cut out over her cleavage. The dress skimmed closely over Chloe's curves to fall to her knees.

She quickly changed into a strapless bra and slipped the dress over her head, feeling the soft fabric settle over her curves.

Lois smiled approvingly. "Better. And I guess that means that Oliver Queen is a breast man." Chloe ignored her cousin, and slipped on a pair of thigh high nude stockings. "Nice, and I'll _take_ that to mean you plan to get lucky tonight, so I will make myself scarce, you'll have the whole place to yourself, you slut."

"Shut up Lo," Chloe said absently, looking through her jewelry box. She stared down at a simple bracelet. The silver colored metal chain was multilayered like chainmail. The bracelet had three items on it, a large lustrous pearl, a hammered metal circle, and a rough hewn green stone. She hesitated, then put it on, running her fingers over it softly with a small smile.

"You OK Chlo?" Lois's words startled her out of her reverie, and she moved to her closet to find a pair of shoes, but Lois nudged her out of the way sticking her head into the closet, her ass sticking out. She pulled out a pair of very high black heels, but Chloe shook her head. "Nope, hand me my boots."

Lois popped up. "You can't wear boots, it's too casual, what if he's taking you to the opera? And boots really don't work with that dress."

"One, I need to take the boots to be resoled tomorrow, two, I'm going to wear the silver strappy ones, and lastly, he's not taking me somewhere that fancy. If he was he would have told me to dress formally. He didn't, therefore it's more casual or it doesn't matter at all," Chloe said matter-of-factly.

Lois sent Chloe a long look and handed her both the boots and the silver shoes she wanted. "Must be nice to know so much about a guy before your first date."

"It's not really helping to keep the nervousness at bay," Chloe disagreed.

Lois smiled. "Chlo… it's all going to work out. I never believed in meant-to-be before you told me about your newest weirdness, but now even I can't deny it. And you and Oliver Queen are meant to be."

"Thanks Lo, now… get out."

"Really? That's how you say thanks? Kicking me out?"

"Yep," Chloe agreed with a smile, cocking her head to the side. "For _some_ reason, Ollie seems to think you're… odd."

"I have no idea why he would think that," Lois claimed with exaggerated wounded innocence, but she walked towards the door with Chloe dogging her heels.

"It's a mystery. I'll be sure to ask if the conversation lags," Chloe said with serious consideration.

"Please. I've seen you banter with him. The only way the conversation between you two is going to lag is if your tongues are otherwise occupied," Lois said with a smirk.

Chloe handed Lois her purse and keys and shoved her out the door.

CO-CO-CO

"_Kiss your life. Accept it, just as it is. Today. Now.  
So that those moments of happiness you're waiting for don't pass you by."_

When Oliver knocked on her door, Chloe was ready, she only had to grab her purse and jacket. April in Metropolis was marked by warming daytime temperatures but still cold overnight temperatures. Besides, Chloe knew Oliver would appreciate her green, mid-thigh, olive green jacket with a high cowl neck.

She swung the door open with a smile lighting up her face. Oliver wore a matching smile, his eyes meeting hers instantly. "Hey, Chl…" his voice trailed off as his eyes moved down her body, taking in bare shoulders, ample cleavage, small waist and perfectly formed legs ending in four inch heels that made the most of her legs.

"Ollie?" Chloe questioned with a wide smile, feeling her heart beat faster at his appreciative look.

"Yep," he agreed, his eyes shooting back up to hers. "We should go." He shot her another playful leer, his eyes dropping to her chest again, "Unless you want to stay," he said in a teasing tone that let her know he wasn't serious.

"Tempting, but I haven't eaten dinner," Chloe said with a happy grin.

"Well," he said while helping her into her jacket with the manners his mother had drilled into him his whole life. "We'll have to see what we can do about that."

He drove her to an old neighborhood of Metropolis that had been revived as a kind of 'old town' a few blocks from the river, gas street lamps cast a romantic glow over wide sidewalks and cobblestone roads. Chloe looked at him as he pulled up in front of her favorite Italian restaurant. It was moderately priced, had divine food, but was too far away for Chloe to get to eat there frequently.

"You can ask, since it's clear that you're dying to," Oliver said with a pleased look.

"Ali told you or… you discovered my weakness for this place while following me from rooftops?" she asked idly.

Oliver looked momentarily taken aback. "How did you know I…"

"Have stalkerish tendencies?" she completed with a happy smile.

"… keep an eye on you to protect you from your questionable choices," he completed with some annoyance.

"Hmm," she demurred, looking up at him through her eyelashes. Oliver was suddenly struck with how beautiful she was. Soft blonde hair, big green eyes, mascara blackened lashes, smooth cheeks, full lips and softy shaped chin.

He paused at the door to the restaurant. "So, Chloe, as a friend to a friend, I'm going to need you to do me a favor," he said persuasively.

"Of course," she agreed with a serious look.

"I'm going on a date with a great girl, amazing really, and if it starts to go downhill, I'm going to need you to, uh, throw me a lifeline," he asked winningly.

She captured her lower lip between her teeth and looked up at him with a look of adoration clearly visible on her face. "I promise," she said solemnly. "I will totally be your wingman. Wing-woman. If you start turning into a narcissistic, spoiled, silver spoon stuck up his ass, jackass, I will slap you."

"Perfect," he laughed.

"What are friends for," she said blithely.

CO-CO-CO

Dinner went well with both ordering pasta and sharing a nice bottle of red wine during the meal. Chloe had a coffee alla nocciola with her dessert and the owner brought out a cappuccino for her as well, with an affectionate look. "Only for this sweet face would I serve a cappuccino in the evening." Chloe grinned up at the older Italian gentleman, who shot Oliver a look. "You should be careful of this one… one smile, one pout, and she will wrap you around her finger. A man doesn't stand a chance when faced with such a beautiful face coupled with a beautiful soul."

Chloe flushed but Oliver appeared at ease. "I could think of worse fates."

CO-CO-CO

After dinner Oliver took Chloe to a nearby building that Chloe had never been in. He pulled out a key and unlocked the door. Chloe was dying from curiosity, which Oliver obviously knew, but she didn't ask and he wasn't telling. She clamped her jaw shut to prevent herself from asking, and was rewarded when they stepped off the elevator into a rooftop garden lit by small twinkling white lights.

A table covered with white linen held a silver champagne stand with a bottle of what Chloe was sure was very expensive champagne.

A string quartet was situated under a garden arch covered with purple flowers. As Oliver led Chloe into the lush paradise with a soft hand on her back, they began to play. The garden also boasted a built in fireplace, water feature and seating area.

Chloe's smile was luminous as Oliver stopped in the middle of a wood decked area. He took her hand and she turned into his arms easily, as if they'd danced together a hundred times. But she never had. Not with this Oliver or the other Oliver.

Lois had been right about one thing, at least. Conversation was not an issue for them. They flowed from one topic to another, teasing, confiding, bantering. After two glasses of champagne, Chloe began to feel giddy, her stomach warmed by both alcohol, and a steady arousal.

She'd never dated Oliver from her past. Their relationship had been less conventional, to say the least. The two Olivers were blurring together in her mind. Their personalities and how she felt about them.

They were sitting on a plush upholstered bench, when Oliver lifted her left hand to his mouth pressing a kiss to it lightly, then traced his fingers down her arm to where the her bracelet rested. "This is an interesting piece," he commented.

"Someone very important gave it to me," she replied lightly.

"What type of stone is this?" he asked, rolling the green stone between his fingers.

"I'm not sure," she said, realizing that she'd never asked Oliver.

CO-CO-CO

(Chloe's past, 2009)

"So I thought we'd try this again," Oliver said with careful lightness, setting a white box with a gold bow tied around in on the desk where Chloe sat working on her laptop.

Startled eyes met his. "Ollie… you didn't have to," she demurred.

"I know I didn't. I wanted to," he shrugged in an effort to appear uninvested in the outcome of this interaction. She'd barely agreed to define their relationship as a relationship, and Oliver didn't want to push her away, but he'd wanted to give her something. He'd been spending too much time away and wanted her to have something from him. "I think you'll like it," he encouraged her to open it.

Chloe reached out a hesitant hand to slide the box towards her, her fingers playing with the ribbon for a second before tugging on it to undo the knot. Lifting the lid of the box, Chloe looked up at Oliver with a cautious smile. She looked back down to find a beautiful bracelet in the box.

"The pearl reminds me of you. Lustrous, beautiful, perfectly imperfect. The circle is our relationship. No matter where we are in it, we always come back to each other."

"And the green is for you," she completed his explanation. "What type of stone is it?"

"Oh, I'm not sure," he said offhandedly. "I can ask if you'd like."

"No, it's perfect, thank you," she said.

(new reality, 2010)

Chloe looked at the bracelet, realizing now that Oliver must have known what the stone was. Oliver was detailed oriented. He never would have left the jewelry store without knowing all there was to know about the piece. He hadn't told her, so it must have been expensive.

"An emerald, maybe?"

"No, I don't think so," he disagreed. "Who gave it to you?"

"Why? Are you jealous?"

"Should I be?" he asked with raised eyebrows.

"I refuse to answer on the grounds that I might incriminate myself," she said with an impish grin.

He grinned back at her. "A woman of many mysteries. What can I do to earn your trust?" he teased, but Chloe heard the seriousness behind the question.

"My trust is yours, but a lady never tells her secrets," Chloe said lightly.

"I see, well, may I have this dance then?" he asked, standing up and holding out his hand to her.

"You can have every dance," she offered.

One minute into one of Joseph Haydn's sting quartet's Oliver stopped dancing and tilted Chloe's face up softly. His lips descended slowly, slowly enough to leave her with no doubt that he was giving her ample time to turn away. Not that she ever would. His lips brushed over hers softly. Back and forth. His lips were firm, hers soft, yielding as they melded together in a gentle crush. She immediately opened her mouth when his tongue flickered against her lips, accepting his advances with a feeling of rightness so strong that she felt her knees go weak.

Oliver's hands tightened on her, gathering her closer to his body. Her dress draped low over her back, leaving much of it exposed and his hands took full advantage, exploring the soft silk of her skin. Chloe melted into his touch, pressing her body against him, until her breasts flattened against his chest. One of Oliver's hand slid down her back to skim lightly over her bottom coming back up to grip her waist keeping her tightly against him.

The kiss went on and on until Chloe began to feel short of breath. Oliver loosened his hold as soon as Chloe eased back, allowing her to withdraw, but keeping her close.

Their eyes met, soft and languorous, and they smiled at each other. Oliver began to move again in the dance, and Chloe followed his lead without a second thought.

CO-CO-CO

Chloe woke up the next morning feeling dreamy and relaxed. She stretched her arms above her head and wondered at the implausibility of her life. She'd met and loved Oliver Queen in two lifetimes. Traveled through time, brought her cousin back from the dead, her best friend was an alien, she'd had more near death experiences than a horror movie heroin.

Her smile fell as the import of her words hit her. She loved this Oliver. As much as she'd loved the other Oliver. Somewhere along the way she'd fallen in love again. She'd have to be extra careful to let the relationship develop naturally, just because she was already in love with him, didn't mean he felt the same.

She deliberately switched her thoughts to another subject, planning out her weekend. She had a paper due in her Public Policy/Strategic Philanthropy class and she still needed to do some research for it, including a trip to the library to pick up a few journal articles that weren't available online.

Her phone beeped with a text from Lois. 'Are you alone?' Chloe rolled her eyes and didn't respond. 'Nice. I hope you got as lucky as I did last night.' The next message read, and Chloe scrunched up her nose. She texted back to stop Lois from going into more detail in a bid to get Chloe to tell the end of her night. 'I'm alone and was enjoying pleasant memories, which are not blocked out with thoughts of things that shall never be mentioned again.'

'Prude,' was Lois's response.

Chloe shook her head, remembering fondly her first kiss, which happened to be with Clark in the barn at the house that he was now undoubtedly curled up with her cousin.

Chloe shook her head to stop any further travel down that path. Clark was her friend, but here in this reality they'd had a more… intimate relationship. It boggled her mind. The girl she'd been might have exalted at the thought, but Chloe didn't care. Her heart and mind were occupied by another.

Her phone rang and she picked it up in exasperation, "Lo, stop before you even start, I'm not telling you anything besides that I had a very nice night."

"Well, that's good to know," Oliver's voice sounded and Chloe's eyes widened comically.

"Ollie?"

"Spitfire."

"Oh my God."

"So you had a good night, huh?"

"As if you were in doubt of that," Chloe said sternly, a blush coloring her cheeks.

"It's still nice to hear."

"As if your ego needs any help," she teased.

"Ali did warn me that you preferred humble men. I'll have to work on that," he said with a deep timber.

She laughed. "You have to admit you were a-"

"Pompous ass?"

"Exactly," she agreed with amusement.

"Well," he asked with dignity, "at the risk of being presumptuous, I was hoping we could spend some more time together this weekend. Lunch today?"

"I'd love too, but I need to hit the library today so I can get started on my paper," she said with regret.

"Tomorrow?" he persisted. "I know of a good brunch spot that's known for their coffee."

"Coffee?" she said with interest.

"I'll pick you up? Ten o'clock?"

"Ten it is."

CO-CO-CO

Less than fifteen minutes later a knock sounded on Chloe's door. She opened it to find Bart standing before her, bouncing from foot to foot with barely contained energy. "Ollie said you wanted coffee," he said with a bright smile. "And I brought you chocolates too, I know you like them," he flirted.

Chloe laughed and let him in. "Good morning Bart."

"Bellissima," he said with a kiss to her cheek. "Tell me Ollie messed up on your date, and you're going to give me a chance."

"Sorry Bart, Oliver was… perfect."

"Aw, man. That sucks. For me, not for you, I guess, but still," he complained.

"I'll share my chocolates with you," she offered as a peace offering.

He shrugged, but accepted the chocolate and it was in his mouth in a move faster than she could see. Chloe started a conversation with Bart when he made no move to leave, but he didn't appear to be paying attention to her.

"Bart," she called his name, but got no response. "Bart," she said louder. He seemed to be staring at something and she looked down to see that her robe had slipped off her leg, leaving a good portion of her thigh exposed. "Bart!"

"Huh?" he finally responded, his eyes meeting hers.

"Maybe you should go."

"Why?" he asked with narrowed eyes. "Did I do something to annoy you?" he inquired eagerly.

"Kinda," she agreed slowly. "You were staring at my leg."

"But what was I thinking?" he asked, causing Chloe to frown at him.

"I'm sure I can imagine, but I choose not to. Thanks."

His eyes moved to her chest. "What am I thinking now?"

"I'm really sure I don't want to know, and I'm even more sure that you should go now," she said with forced calm, trying to remember that he was just 19 years old.

"Ha!" he shouted gleefully. "It's true!"

"What's true?" she asked as she pushed him towards the door.

"AC and Victor are going be so excited."

"About what?"

"Nothing," Bart said, suddenly serious, then he laughed. "Like you don't know."

Chloe decided to chalk up the last few minutes to insanity, and let it go. "You bet I do," she agreed. Weren't you supposed to appease crazy people?

As soon as she had ushered him out the door, she texted Oliver. 'Next time you send me coffee, make sure the delivery boy is in his right mind.'

His reply perplexed her even more. 'Who gave you coffee?'

'Bart, didn't you send him?'

'No. I talked to him, and I may have mentioned talking to you, but I didn't ask for him to make a delivery. What did he do?'

'Nothing, just acted weird.'

CO-CO-CO

"How is this not our second date?" she questioned with a laugh.

"This is brunch," he stated simply.

"I can see that, a meal, together, you picked me up, unless you make me pay, this looks like a date." He leaned down to kiss her briefly. "Yep, feels like a date too."

"Breakfast is never a date," he denied.

"Is this some kind of rule you developed for your one night stands? You were kind enough to feed them before kicking them out, so you had to be sure that breakfast didn't count as a date?" she asked with raised eyebrows.

"No, smartass, it's something my mother told me."

"I'm fairly sure that your mother also told you not to make a habit of one night stands, but…"

He mock glared at her. "You were much nicer to me last night, maybe I should only take you out on real dates, you seem to behave better."

She pushed out her lips in a pout. "Aw, did I hurt your feelings?"

"Yes, you should kiss me to make me feel better," he countered.

She shook her head, but he easily reeled her in, kissing her despite the fact that they were standing in the middle of a busy sidewalk. "Ollie," she protested, but melted into the kiss as her mind went blank and she forgot why she should be objecting.

CO-CO-CO

The following day, Oliver had flowers delivered to Chloe with a muffin and coffee. Pressed into the top of the muffin was a little gold and green pig with wings. She pulled it out and found that it was a ring. Opening the note that came with the flowers she read, 'I'm sure that at the beginning of our acquaintance you thought pigs would fly before you'd ever agree to a date with me. Thanks for having an open mind, Spitfire.'

CO-CO-CO

Ali was full of curiosity about Chloe's date with her brother, and could barely contain herself until Wednesday, when she had her standing coffee date with Chloe on campus. Chloe gave a brief recap, but a faithful retelling of her outfit choice and any flubs Oliver made throughout the evening.

"So you… like him, right?" Ali asked with a glowing expression and dreamy eyes.

"Yeah, I do."

"That's good. I think. I hope it's good. Ollie really seems to like you, but… I don't want either of you to get hurt," Ali said in a rush.

"Ali… it's fine. I promise. Oliver and I are both adults. We… like each other and we're dating, but that won't affect you."

"It will if you get married," Ali objected.

"If we…" Chloe struggled for words.

"Ollie said you were special, and he asked me how I felt about it before asking you out, which means he's super serious about you."

Chloe smiled her eyes soft. "I hope so."

"I'll kill him if he hurts you. Seriously. His bows are all dead. I'll put them in the driveway and run them over with my car."

Chloe laughed. "Thanks, glad you've got my back. But I think that could damage your car."

"Hmm, good call. I'll use one of his precious antique cars to do it. Chloe laughed harder and Ali joined in. "I hope you do stay together," Ali said with feeling. "Then you could be my sister. Ollie's great and all, but I think I'd like to have a sister if she was like you."

Chloe fought back tears and squeezed Ali's hand. "We don't need Oliver to be sisters, Ali."

Ali smiled. "Cool. But you have to promise me that if something happens you won't dump me too."

"I would never," Chloe assured her. "Now, tell me how your date with Mike went, and don't think that I didn't notice that you used my date as a smokescreen to distract your brother from your date."

Ali gave Chloe a funny grin. "It was amazing. I mean, OK, maybe he wasn't as insightful as Ollie was for you, or as romantic, but he did pay for dinner and we sat on a park bench and made out for awhile."

Chloe laughed again. " I love you Ali, and no 18 year old had romantic and insightful dates with another 18 year old. Be glad if your date didn't end a frat party or with a slurpee for dessert."

CO-CO-CO

That evening, Ali entered the Clock Tower loft apartment and walked straight into her brother's chest, hugging him tightly.

"What'd I do to deserve that?" he asked, hugging her back and not letting her go when she tried to squirm free.

"You're you, and sometimes that is pretty amazing."

"While that's always nice to hear, brat, details would be good." He stared down at her. "I know you saw Chloe today, so spill."

"No," she said regally. "All I'll say is that you did well." A large smile filled her face and she hugged him again. "I'm so happy for you Ollie."

"I'm happy for me too, Ali."

* * *

AN- Words 4561

I tried to push this chapter out last night but it wouldn't come. I wrote 5000 words for later in the story over the last week, but it was hard to focus on this chapter. Up next: their second date, some flashbacks, and more of the secondary characters.

The scene with Bart was suggested by a review from DW. If you didn't catch onto what was happening, Bart was 'testing' Chloe's psychic abilities.

I like visuals, and when I started writing I realized I had no idea how to describe things like face shapes and clothes. So I get pictures. If you like pictures too, there are links to items on the livejournal posting... go to chlollie (dot) livejournal (dot) com because FF doesn't allow outside links right now.


	16. Ch16: Firsts, Seconds and Thirds

AN- this is a monster length chapter because Hal and Ali hijacked it and I forced myself to get through their third date. To maintain the veneer of a PG-13 story the really smutty bits are hidden as spoilers, highlight them to read….

I wrote the majority of this chapter in the last two days so there are bound to be mistakes in here, be kind, I'll edit tomorrow. For a smuttier version of their second date, visit chlollie dot livejournal dot com FF has been cracking down, or at least that is the rumor...

**Ch. 16: Firsts, Seconds, and Thirds**

_"A kiss makes the heart young again and wipes out the years." - Rupert Brooke_

Their second 'official' date didn't get off to such a good start. Chloe was running late after a long day of chasing down a sources for a story about school officials taking outright cash bribes to award their districts food service contract to a company who had received several FDA fines for unsafe food handling and who served food with little to no nutritional value despite a lower cost bidder from a local company who had offered fresh, local food options.

She finally submitted her story with documentation (keeping her sources names out of it) at 6:32. Racing out the door she tried to hail a cab outside the DP but had no luck. The downtown farmers market was going that night, drawing people and taking up all the cabs.

Chloe raced down to the transit center, hopping a trolley to her neighborhood. She frantically tried to figure out how she could shave time off her primping but Oliver was taking her to opening night of the hot new theatre production, and she couldn't just brush her hair and add some lipstick.

Chloe texted Oliver to let him know she was running late and they'd have to skip dinner.

She raced through her shower washing off the sweat and dirt of the day then blow dryed her hair standing in front of a fan in an attempt to not sweat. Chloe felt her nerves fraying as the minutes passed. Twisting her hair up rather than spend the time curling it, and adding some makeup, she smiled at the final result.

Hoping that there was something edible in their kitchen, but not holding out much hope, Chloe stuck her head into the refreshing coolness of the refrigerator only to find a coffee creamer (always in stock), some wilted spinach, one egg, a block of moldy cheese, a yogurt more than three months past its expiration, and a container of Chinese food that Chloe knew had been there since the semester started. The freezer at least held edible food, but nothing that Chloe wanted to eat that could be ready in five minutes.

Groaning, she shuffled over to the cupboard only to find a half eaten bag of white cheddar popcorn, a can of garbanzo beans, and a can of pineapple. Groaning and rubbing her empty stomach, Chloe pulled down the canned pineapple. Opening the can with a pout she started stuffing it into her mouth rapidly despite her lack of enthusiasm about her 'meal.'

A knock at the door startled her, but she knew it had to be Oliver. "I'm not ready yet," she said anxiously as she opened the door.

Oliver smiled at her, his eyes trailing over her body, wrapped up in a silky gold robe that made her skin glow healthily. "I didn't expect you to be," he said calmly. Stepping inside he kicked the door shut behind him and setting down a white paper bag on the entryway table, put both his hands on her shoulders. "Breath in, now out. In, then out. We can be late, Spitfire. I'm not worried."

She relaxed but was still frowning. "But I wanted to see the show."

"And we will."

"The whole show, Ollie," she said with a bit of a whine in her tone.

"We can do that too, if you're ready to go in no more than ten minutes," he tried to keep his expression calm and not smirk at her moment of childishness.

"But the show starts at 7:30 and it's already 7:10 and there will be traffic..."

"Chloe. Trust me. I have it covered, and they never start on time opening night." She looked skeptical, but nodded. "Good," he turned to pick up the bag he'd brought with him, "Now, I brought you a muffin to tide you over and a coffee, but I think your nerves..." She grabbed the bag out of his hands and gave him a warning look. "Right, my mistake," he murmured with amusement.

She set it on the counter taking a big bite of the muffin before getting to the coffee, which just told him how hungry she really was.

"Just one thing, Chloe..." he said, stepping close to her.

She turned her head up to his with a curios look. He leaned down and captured her mouth in a hard kiss, answering her question. Chloe immediately wrapped her arms around his neck, tilting up onto her toes to better align their bodies before pressing against him.

He released her reluctantly, letting his hands slide down her sides to her hips, admiring the deep cleavage revealed by her robe that had come loose in his embrace.

"You should get dressed. Now," he said with obvious frustration.

"Or we could stay in," she said temptingly, sliding her hands up his chest over his tuxedo shirt.

"No," he said with forced lightness, stepping back from her. "You wanted to see the show."

"Ollie?" she questioned with a frown.

"Don't make this harder on me that it already is Chloe. I'm trying to do the right thing here and treat you the way you deserve to be treated."

A slow smile spread over her face. She could see the rigid tension in the way he was holding his body, and felt better about her own pulsing arousal. "OK, but at some point you are going to..." she paused, not sure how to word it, and arched one eyebrow and pursed her lips in place of the words.

"Absolutely," he agreed reverently his eyes undressing her even as he refused her offer to skip the show and hit the sheets.

"Something to look forward to, then," she sassed, walking to her bedroom with swaying hips.

"You have no idea," Oliver agreed, taking a deep breath to try to ease the tension in his body.

CO-CO-CO

Oliver kept his word and got them to the theatre just a few minutes past 7:30, having the car service drop them off at the adjacent building, then walking through a locked courtyard to the theatre. "Is this a date or a mission?" Chloe questioned with a smirk.

"Definitely a date, but I thought you might like to skip the media gauntlet for tonight at least."

She smiled at him, squeezing the hand that held hers tightly as they were let into the theatre building through a backdoor by a red-jacked usher who had obviously been waiting for them. "Thanks."

"Our under the radar status won't last long, but I think the second date is too soon for you to have to deal with the attention."

"Or you're ashamed of me," she teased, only to find herself pressed against the wall by Oliver's hard body. Seeing the intense look on his face, she blinked in surprise. "Ollie, I was just..." he cut her off with a kiss, and Chloe gave herself over to him, sliding her hands up to cup his face even as he pulled back, "...joking."

"Sorry, I may be a little sensitive about this stuff," he apologized, stepping back and smoothing the wrinkles out of their clothing. "So many people have wanted me for my money or fame, anything other than me. I know you're not like that Chloe, you're not seeking the spotlight, and I want to keep you protected from it as much as possible."

"I know."

"We'll have to figure out how to deal with it soon, but for now, I just want to keep you all to myself." As they walked to their seats, Oliver wondered if he'd ever find another woman as perfect for him as Chloe. She seemed to read him easily, anticipating his thoughts and actions, and she was never afraid or intimidated by him even when he was acting aggressively, like he just had or several times in the beginning of their friendship.

CO-CO-CO

A little more than half way through the first act Chloe's stomach began to grumble loudly. She flushed with embarrassment, but at least they were in a private box and only Oliver could hear. Oliver smiled deeply, and took out his phone to send a quick text message. A few minutes later, Bart arrived with a bag full of tacos straight from Mexico.

Chloe ate guiltily, knowing they were breaking the theatre's rules, but that just made the tacos taste better. She felt ridiculous and amazing, sitting with Oliver in a private theatre box, a napkin tucked into her cleavage to protect her dress from any drips, eating two dollar tacos from 1,500 miles away.

She started to giggle and couldn't stop. Oliver was smiling uncontrollably as he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her into his side affectionately. She pressed her face into his neck to try to stifle her laughter when they started to earn some disapproving looks from the surrounding boxes.

CO-CO-CO

During the intermission, Oliver kept Chloe close to his side, introducing her to the few people he actually talked to as opposed to the many who nodded at him in deference or simple greeting. Chloe slid her hand under his tuxedo jacket to rest on the small of his back, completing their posture of coupledom. Oliver smiled down at her intimately, not sure if she realized what she was doing, but enjoying it all the same.

He knew Chloe would be branded as just another of his girlfriends, and wondered how long it would take people to realize it was more serious than that this time.

His smile faded as he saw Lex Luthor standing at the bar just a few feet from them. Chloe felt his muscles tense and looked up at him, seeing his uptight expression. She followed his gaze to Lex and squeezed his side but smiled welcomingly at Lex who hesitated for a moment then approached them with a debonair smile on his handsome face.

"So I see it's official now," he said acknowledging their arms around each other. "Congratulations… Oliver. I'm sure you already how lucky you are to have earned Chloe's admiration."

"I wasn't aware you two knew each other that well," Oliver said pointedly.

"Oliver," Chloe said warningly.

"We've met a few times. Each brief but memorable. Chloe seems to have a gift for seeing people through any misconceptions," Lex commented.

Oliver smiled tightly. "I am the lucky one, but unfortunately I seemed to offend Chloe at our first meeting, and it took me awhile to find my way to her good graces."

Lex's lips compressed as Chloe rolled her eyes and nudged Oliver in the side. "The best things in life are earned, not given to us."

"Finally something we can agree on," Oliver agreed. He'd never been so happy to hear the bells that warned them that the show was about to begin again, including the time he'd taken a playboy playmate to a show only to find that his parents were also in attendance.

CO-CO-CO

They left the show through the same backdoor they'd arrived through, avoiding the media out front. Not hungry enough to want dinner, they settled for a cheese plate, dessert, and coffee at a five star restaurant. Oliver turned to Chloe as they drove towards her apartment, her head was resting back against the seat, the few strands of loose hair that framed her face curving around her chin. He tucked her hair behind her ear and she rolled her head towards him, a soft smile lighting her face.

"Tired?" he questioned.

"Yeah, but in a good way."

"And your story will be in the cover tomorrow," he said proudly.

"Maybe, I'm not sure. But it will definitely get a good placement."

"Do I get to see you tomorrow?"

"It's already tomorrow," she teased, since it was after midnight.

"Then later today and tomorrow," he replied agreeably.

"You're very demanding," she complained with a smile.

"I know what I want, and I see no reason to pretend otherwise. Besides, a few weeks ago you seemed invested in my happiness, and spending time with you makes me happy."

She gave him a full fledged smile and tilted her face up to him, asking for a kiss that he happily gave.

"Tomorrow then. I have to work the DP hotline tomorrow night, but I'm all yours until seven."

"All mine. I like the sound of that."

He walked her in and took the keys from her to unlock her door, but he didn't enter. She smirked up at him. "How resolved are you on this whole gentleman thing?" she teased, pressing her body flush against him and pulled his face down the meet hers in a passionate kiss. She could feel his body go rigid then wrap around her and she felt a thrill at his response.

Their tongues tangled and Chloe moaned as he pulled her even tighter against him. His hands held her tightly at her waist, then slipped down to her hips and slowly one of his hands inched around to cup her ass and Chloe whimpered and wrapped her arms tighter around his neck.

Chloe was breathless and flushed when Oliver pulled away. "Ollie…"

"I should go. But… next weekend. Can you leave town for a few days?"

"Maybe, what do you have planned?"

"Do you trust me?" he asked with some importance behind the words.

"I do," she confirmed seriously, running her hands down his chest and hooking her fingers into his waistband to pull him closer.

"Then just make sure you're free and let me know when you can leave," he instructed and he pulled her hands up to his mouth and kissed each one before releasing her altogether.

She took a shuddering breath, pushing back her arousal, since he clearly wouldn't be persuaded to stay that night. "OK."

"Good night Chloe," he said then kissed her again. "I'll call you tomorrow."

CO-CO-CO

Chloe wandered back to her bedroom with a soft and dreamy smile despite her frustration. She pulled the pins out of her hair then rubbed her head, before trying to detangle the mass of her hair with her fingers. She twisted to try to unzip her dress but the zipper got stuck after just a few inches. Grunting and craning her head over her shoulder she turned around so her back was to the mirror to try to see what the problem was. She was contorted and red faced when a soft knock sounded on her door.

She knew it had to be Ollie, because no one else besides Lois or Clark would show up on a Friday night after midnight, and Clark wouldn't bother knocking and Lois had a key, but Chloe still checked before she opened the door. "Ollie?"

"Yeah," he replied in the affirmative. She opened the door to find him holding her phone. "You dropped this in the car."

"Thanks." She accepted the phone and looked at him sheepishly. "Can you help unzip me?" He suddenly froze and the room instantly felt thick with tension. "It's stuck."

He nodded slowly and stepped inside the door and closed it as she turned around. Oliver's hands pressed against her back as he worked the zipper past the bit of fabric it was caught on. All her nerve endings seemingly migrated to where his fingers were pressed against her skin, and Chloe wondered how she'd never known her back could be an erogenous zone before.

In seconds he was easing the zipper down his fingers trailing down her spine leaving a trail of goose bumps in their wake. Chloe held still, enjoying the sensation of his touch, her breathing shallow, one arm banded under her breasts to keep her dress up. Arriving at the small over her back, Oliver leaned down and pressed a kiss to the nape of her neck, then trailed a few kisses down the same path his hands had just taken.

One of his hands slid around to rest possessively over her stomach holding her to him as he pressed a few more light kisses to her neck. "I don't want to, but I should go," he murmured.

Chloe turned slowly, staying in the circle of his arms, until she was facing him. "I don't want you to go." She could read his internal struggle as it played out on his face. "I appreciate the sentiment Ollie, but I'm a big girl," she gave him her permission to break whatever self imposed rule he was abiding, and reached her free hand up to pull him down into a heated kiss.

His hands instantly tightened their hold on her, moving up and down the bare skin of her back as their tongues dueled. Chloe was pressed tightly to his chest, her dress caught between them. With one arm wrapped around his neck, she used her other hand to pull at his shirt until she could get at his muscled abdomen. Their moans mixed together as hands raced to familiarize, or in Chloe's case re-familiarize, themselves with the other's form.

Oliver's hand slide up her side, her dress yielding to his touch until his thumb was resting just below her breast, and Chloe tore her mouth away from his, gasping in air. "Please, Ollie, don't stop."

She could practically see the wheels turning in his head as he considered his choices, and she smiled fondly. Oliver could be impulsive, but never when it was something or someone he cared deeply about.

She tried to tip the scales in her favor. "You don't have to go Ollie," she said breathily. "I want you to stay." His dark eyes bored into hers for a moment then he seemed to come to a decision. His hand moved up to close over her breast and her head fell back at the delicious sensation.

He eased back from her enough for her dress to slip to the floor leaving her in a strapless bra, panties, and thigh-high stockings with bare feet. "You're not making this very easy on me Spitfire," he murmured into her ear as he tracked kisses from her ear back to her mouth. After kissing her, he raised his head to scan her body thoroughly, taking in pale curves enticingly encased in black lace.

"Just trying to give us what we both want," Chloe said as she loosened her hold on him to allow him to step back to look at her. Her breasts tightened even more under his intense regard, and Chloe sighed with relief as his hand closed over one sensitized globe. His palm chaffed her nipple under the lace of her bra and she pressed closer to him, increasing the pressure of his touch.

Free from the fabric of her dress, Chloe wound a leg around his thigh, and he obligingly helped give her what she wanted which was a better, closer alignment of their bodies. His hands slid down her body, enjoying the silky feel of her skin, then his grip hardened as he lifted her off her feet. Chloe reacted immediately, wrapping both legs around his waist as her arms held her steady, loosely twined around his neck.

There was no awkwardness between them, no shyness, no moves that left them nearly head-butting each other. Chloe seemed to be perfectly in sync with him, anticipation his moves almost instinctively. She was loose and relaxed in his arms as he carried her over to the kitchen counter, where he deposited her so he could free his hands to touch her.

Several minutes later Chloe was lost in sensation, her only thought being that she had missed being with him like this, and that she was going to scream if he kept teasing her with her. Oliver's hands skimmed up her back to the catch of her bra and Chloe's breath caught with anticipation, but he paused.

Chloe cupped her hands around his face and looked into his eyes. "What is it?" It wasn't like him, any version of him, to hesitate at this point.

"Are you still dating the doctor?" he asked with a voice raspy with desire.

"No."

"Are you dating anyone else?"

She smiled slowly, her hands stroking over his cheeks and jaw reassuringly. She allowed herself a moment to enjoy being the secure one in a relationship for once. "No, just you. Well, there is this other guy," she said teasingly, pressing a quick kiss to his mouth.

"Who?"

She widened her eyes and bit her lip, looking up at him flirtatiously. "I can't say. He keeps his identity a secret." She lowered her voice. "He's a vigilante. A hero. He's saved me a few times, and I can't be sure but I think I felt a spark between us…" she broke off laughing as the expression on his face switched from jealous to annoyed.

He scowled down at her playfully and pressed a rough kiss against her lips. His hands skimmed back up her back and released the catch of her bra, pulling the lace away from her body impatiently. "It's not nice to tease a man in my condition, Chloe," he said with his voice pitched low.

She shivered in delight as he caressed her breasts with both hands. "If this is your… idea of punishment… I don't think you're teaching… me the right lesson," she stuttered his touch made her mind blank out.

She rubbed against him, creating friction where she wanted it and her hands slipped down to his pant's closure, but Oliver stopped her, pulling her hands behind her back and pinning them there.

"Wha…?" she said in confusion.

Oliver released a shuttered breath. "I want you Chloe, and we will be together, but not tonight. I'm going to need hours, days with you before I can even think of letting you out of my sight."

"Then…" she questioned, her chest heaving, breasts moving up and down as she tried to regain control over her libido.

"Tonight, I just want to touch you, to make you feel good. But I'm going to need your help here. I'm on the edge and I made a promise to myself to do this right. With you."

"But…"

He smirked and kissed her hard, drawing her hands back up to his shoulders. "I've never seen you speechless before Spitfire, I kinda like it. But for right now, just trust me and follow my lead." She nodded, her eyes wide. She could tell how aroused he was, but he apparently wasn't going to act on it.

He rained kisses over her chest and shoulders then shifted her back from him a bit, moving his hand up her thigh slowly as if making sure she wouldn't stop him.

"Are you sorry you teased me now?" he taunted, but his voice was rough, and his cheeks flushed. Her eyes snapped to his as her mouth fell open in ire but before she could come up with a comeback he kissed her again and she melted into him.

CO-CO-CO

Sunday night Chloe and Oliver were at Watchtower, running some searches through various databases looking for the connection between a gang leader and a city council member. Once Chloe had set the various computers to their task, Oliver spun her around and kissed her passionately.

Fifteen minutes later, Chloe was sitting on one of the desks with her legs and arms wrapped around him, her shirt and bra lying on the floor nearby. In a whoosh of air, Clark and Bart appeared in the middle of Watchtower.

Chloe squeaked and hugged Oliver tighter to her attempting to cover her chest, and Oliver wrapped his arms around her back using his body to block their view of her.

Clark froze his eyes wide and on Chloe then he turned his head up to stare at the ceiling. Bart stared at Chloe with googly eyes, until Oliver's sharp reprimand brought him out of his daze. "Bart, turn your head."

"Oh," Bart yelped and supersped out of the room, not making it cleanly through the door, leaving a splintered door jamb in his wake.

"Ouch," Chloe said softly. "Clark, will you go check on him?"

"Yeah," Clark agreed, leaving in a breeze behind him.

"Well, that was awkward," Oliver intoned lightly.

CO-CO-CO

Back at her apartment Chloe found Clark waiting for her. "Clark," she greeted hesitantly.

"Are you sleeping with him?" Clark demanded.

"I don't see how that is any of your business. I'm dating Oliver, you know that," Chloe replied, not at all cowed by his anger.

"I told you I don't like him."

"And I told you that you were wrong about him. Oliver is every bit the hero you are Clark, and just because you don't like him, doesn't mean that I shouldn't. I make my own mind up about people Clark. I have for years now."

"He's not right for you."

"That's your opinion, and I'll let you have it even if you're wrong," she said with stinging sweetness. "See how that works?"

"But Chloe," he began.

"Enough Clark, you won't change my mind."

"It's like he's blinded you."

"Have you ever considered that you're the blind one? Or that we're different people and we see things differently?" she said in a more gentle tone. "Ollie is important to me Clark, and I'm hoping that he and I will be together for a long time, so if I were you and I still wanted to maintain our friendship, I'd try to figure out a way to coexist."

CO-CO-CO

Oliver had been out of town since Monday night and when Chloe got the call that he was back on Wednesday just as she was leaving the Daily Planet she didn't even pretend to check her schedule before heading straight to the Clock Tower.

Exiting the elevator, she stepped off to find Oliver approaching her from the kitchen at a fast stride. She went straight into his arms and he didn't hesitate either, tipping her head up to meet his mouth. Chloe melted into him, and didn't hesitate when his hands lifted her up off the ground. Her legs latched around his waist easily, her skirt pushing up her thighs to allow the movement as she wrapped her arms around his neck with their mouths still locked together.

"Hey Chloe, looking good. Nice legs," she heard in a cool tone from the kitchen and she tore her mouth away from Oliver's to find Hal standing casually a few feet away with a beer in his hand.

"Hi Hal," she greeted with a giggle, her face flushed but Hal wasn't sure if it was from embarrassment or arousal.

"Bye Hal," Oliver said shortly, before he dropped his head to kiss Chloe's neck.

"So, I was thinking…" Hal drawled, "I'll pick up the takeout for dinner."

"Good idea," Oliver said distractedly, his hands full of Chloe's ass, his lips trailing across her collarbone.

"I'll be back in say… an hour?" Hal offered with a wide smirk, not bothering to divert his gaze.

"Perfect," Oliver rumbled into Chloe's neck. "Swing by to pick up Ali while you're out and take her with you to get the food."

Hal laughed. "You just want me to make sure she doesn't show up early."

"You got it pal," Oliver agreed, causing Chloe to giggle again.

"Sounds good, while I'm visiting the fair Ali, I'll take a minute to scare the crap out of her new boyfriend."

"I love you man," Oliver said appreciatively, but he latched his mouth onto Chloe's again.

"That way I clear the way for making her my child bride and getting my hands on the Queen fortune,"

"Absolutely…" Oliver agreed, then his head popped up with a confused look. "What?"

"Nothing bro, I'll see you in 59 minutes and counting."

Chloe giggled, her body vibrating against his, still held aloft in his arms. "Wait… what did he say?" Oliver asked Chloe as Hal disappeared down the stairs, his steps thundering in the enclosed space.

Oliver took the few steps needed to set her down on the kitchen island and Chloe released her tight grip on him. She pushed her lip out in an exaggerated pout, giving him sad eyes. "Oh my God, do you think he was serious?"

"Not funny," Oliver complained.

"Hal could be your brother. That'd be nice, right?"

"Stop talking, you're going to give me a heart attack, and not in a good way," he grumbled. Chloe tried to suppress her grin, clearly amused at his reaction to Hal's teasing.

Oliver narrowed his eyes at her, and tugged her corduroy blazer off her shoulders and shoved it down her arms, but left it bunched up around her elbows. Chloe's smile faded into a frown as she realized her arms were effectively trapped behind her back. "Hey." It was her turn to complain.

"Not laughing now are you," he taunted as his deft fingers made quick work of her shirt, pulling it open and tugging the straps of her bra off her shoulders easily, freeing her breasts.

His head dipped down over her chest and Chloe arched into him, but as his hands pushed her skirt up her legs she began to struggle against him. "Ollie, stop. Even if we don't… it will still smell like sex in here if you keep going."

"So?"

"So we're eating here with your sister in less than an hour," she said reasonably struggling to free her arms from her jacket.

Oliver seemed to consider her words and he lifted her up again with his hands cupping under her ass firmly. Chloe squealed as she had to rely on Ollie entirely to hold her up, since her arms were still pinned behind her back.

He walked towards the door to the spare bedroom with Chloe glued to his chest trying to keep her body stable in his hold. "Nethanderthal," she accused good naturedly. She looked around and then her mouth fell open in outrage. "Not here, either! Hal is staying here."

Oliver grunted and changed direction, carrying her back through the loft, "Time's wasting, Spitfire." Her chest started to vibrate again with laughter and Oliver dipped his head down and bit her neck playfully.

"Ooh," she mocked in fear.

Pushing the button to open the hidden door to the secret room where he kept his Green Arrow stuff, he carried her inside and set her on the bank of cabinets that lined one wall below some display wall cabinets where his bows hung.

CO-CO-CO

Hal made sure to come back upstairs via the elevator, even going so far as to send a text when he and Ali left the restaurant with their dinner. Ali was bouncing on her feet in the elevator on the way up to Ollie's loft.

"What's got you so excited, Beautiful?"

"I haven't really seen them _together_ since they've been together. I'm excited, they make a good couple, don't you think?" Ali bubbled.

"I do, but I thought you just said you haven't seen them together?"

"Not since they've been a couple. But before… at first I thought Ollie was just… well, I really don't know. Chloe didn't seem to like him and I thought he was just being a brat about one woman not falling at his feet," Ali said without any filter, causing Hal to chuckle. "But then, I just saw it, you know? He was totally into her, but she wasn't having it."

"I know," Hal agreed, smiling at the memory of the attitude Oliver had given him after Hal had taken Chloe out one night.

"Have you ever seen him like this with anyone else?" Ali inquired with wide, innocent, worried eyes.

He smiled softly. "Never." Hal reached out and tweaked Ali's nose, causing him to squawk at him and try to slap his hand away. "I don't think you have anything to worry about Ali. I think this is the real deal. Oliver may have been a jerk to Chloe in the beginning before he knew what he was feeling, but he's clued in now and he's going above and beyond the call of duty to make sure he doesn't mess this up."

"Good," Ali said with obvious relief, blowing out a deep breath. "Chloe is amazing, and she practically glows when she even talks about him, so I don't think we have to worry about her hurting him either."

Hal nudged her with his shoulder in appreciation of her unabashed sweetness, since hugging her with one of his hands full of takeout packages would be awkward. "Oliver is a lucky bastard," he said softly, earning him another grin from Ali.

Suddenly she looked serious and shot him a haughty look, her chin rising defiantly. "Don't think that I've forgiven you for being mean to Mike."

Hal grinned and his grin only grew as she marched into the loft with a hand over her eyes, calling loudly, "Hand check, get 'em up, baby sister on the premises!"

Oliver emerged from the kitchen with plates in his hand and a mock glare on his face for his sister's teasing. "Everyone is a fucking comedian today."

Chloe came out of the kitchen behind Oliver carrying glasses and a picture of iced tea and hip checked him. "Ignore Oliver, he's unable to take a joke right now," Chloe said lightly.

Hal arched one eyebrow noting that Chloe's clothes were noticeably wrinkled and Oliver was wearing different pants than before. "I can't imagine why," he teased.

"Sexual frustration," Ali said pithily, causing Oliver to bobble the plate in his hand as he was setting it out on the table for their meal.

CO-CO-CO

_We'll build a castle in the air and live a lifetime in a kiss. Shut your eyes  
and we will ride like beggars on a wish because the world is where we are  
and right now that's you and me. Someday, come what may, we'll sail across the sea.  
A full moon, a fool's heart; that's a pretty good start._

Chloe left the Daily Planet at noon the next day, pulling her carry on suitcase behind her as she met Oliver at the curb. He opened the door for her and stowed her suitcase in the trunk of the Mercedes sedan.

Sitting back in his seat he leaned over to kiss her but she turned her face so it landed on her cheek. "Are you going to tell me where we're going now?"

"No," he denied, and dipped down to kiss her neck instead.

She pouted at him prettily, causing him to laugh. "You can try your wiles on me on the plane. We haven't had a true battle of the wills in awhile."

"How long do I have to wear you down?" she asked with an arch look.

"Sorry, I'm smarter than that. How about we bet $50 that you looked up flight times to different places?"

"No bet."

Oliver laughed.

CO-CO-CO

Oliver refused to tell her anything and eventually Chloe gave in to his urging that they try to get some sleep, curling up in his arms on the couch in the main cabin area. "You could have at least let me look out the windows," she groused, squirming around to get comfortable.

"Next time," he promised, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

He woke her several hours later with a soft kiss to her forehead. Chloe blinked up at him and he smiled at her befuddled expression and messy hair. "We're landing soon, I thought you'd like to take a look now."

Her eyes lit with excitement, and she bit her lip scrambling up onto her knees pressing a firm kiss to his lips quickly. She leaned to the side, straddling one of his legs and pushed open the window covering to see the unmistakable sight of Paris, dominated by the Eiffle Tower, laid out below them. It was night time in Paris and the city glowed with lights, including the iconic tower in the western part of the city.

Her expression was awed as she turned her face back to Oliver. "Paris?"

"Paris."

"But I don't have a passport Ollie," she said with an incredulous smile.

"Are you sure about that Spitfire?"

Her face screwed up into a look of confusion even as her eyes darted back to the view outside as the private plane continued its descent. "What'd you do?"

"Well you know that with enough money you can get practically anything done," he said with exaggerated boastfulness. She shot him a glare and he grinned. "And anything money can't buy, connections can usually fix. Like, say, your Uncle Sam."

"Uncle Sam helped you wisk me off to Paris?"

"Once I convinced Lois, who helped me convince your father, who then helped me get the General onboard," he explained.

Chloe grinned at him and threw herself into his arms. "You're taking me to Paris?"

"Hmm, aren't you glad you let me win you over?"

She scoffed at him, but decided to shut him up with a kiss, which he didn't object to.

CO-CO-CO

Arriving in the very early morning hours, Chloe was too wound up to go to the hotel so they went site seeing immediately, enjoying the mostly empty streets of Paris. They wound up at the Eiffel Tower just as the horizon was beginning to lighten with the first signs of dawn.

Their hotel was nearby but Chloe was distracted by the smell of fresh baking bread from a bakery, and Oliver talked the elderly baker into selling them a warm crusty baguette. They shared pieces as they walked to their hotel.

Oliver had reserved the penthouse suite with their own private deck off the bedroom, views of the city (including the Eiffel Tower) from every room allowed in by walls of windows. The suite was elegant and comfortable in shades of cream, but nothing inside could hold Chloe's attention. She opened the French doors off the living room to the deck and when Oliver was done tipping the bellboy that's where Oliver found her.

Oliver wrapped his arms around her, pulling her back against his chest, for warmth and just to touch her. They watched the sunrise paint the city with soft shades of blush. "I finally know what they mean when people call Paris the city of light," Chloe said softly, curling her hand around his arm.

They watched silently until the sun had cleared the horizon, then Oliver led Chloe back into their hotel suite. There were two bedrooms off the sitting room. "Are you hungry or would you like to sleep for a few hours before we explore the city some more?" Oliver offered.

"Neither," Chloe replied with a smile full of promise and anticipation. She used their clasped hands to pull him towards the what she assumed was the master bedrooms. "Unless you're tired?" she flirted.

Oliver shook his head, looking down at the woman who fascinated him completely. "Not at all."

"Oh good," Chloe said lightly. She pushed him down to sit on the bed, his hands reaching out to slide up over her hips to her waist and back down again. Chloe smiled, her own hands going to his shirt front to unbutton it.

CO-CO-CO

AN-So… 18 chapters may not be so realistic, but I am closing in on the end. There will be a few sequel-one-shots, but this story does have an ending point.

I'm wavering back and forth between letting the smut out or keeping this mostly PG13. I was going to write the first time smut but this chapter is LONG without it and ready to be posted now. But for those who like that kind of thing, there will be more Paris love in the next chapter.

In case there was any doubt as to how anal I am about some things I not only researched the flight time from Kansas to Paris (9 hours) the time difference (plus 7 hours) and the time of Sunrises in Paris in April 2010 (between 6:30 and 7:30 depending on the beginning or the end of the month), and all that was to know what time they should leave Kansas so they could arrive in time for nighttime site seeing and still make it back to the hotel for sunrise in Paris.

From this chapter:

Links to Chloe's outfit from their theatre date and the View from their hotel room suite in Paris: at livejournal


	17. Ch17: Milestones and Minefields

**Ch. 17: Milestones and Minefields**

CO-CO-CO

Paris was everything Chloe could have wanted, even though she didn't see all that much about it. She and Oliver only slept for a few hours once they got to their hotel and making love for the first time. Chloe felt content for the first time, in a very long time, including when she'd been with the other version of Oliver.

Somehow in the past Chloe had stopped letting herself be happy, stopped believing she would, could, or should be happy. After her trips to the past and leaving her whole past and her Oliver behind she'd found herself in a new world. A better world, but one where Chloe was a stranger in her own life.

It had taken awhile, but she'd adjusted, and as things between her, her family, and the Queens played out, Chloe found herself feeling like the world was full of possibilities, not an endless stream of danger and disappointment.

Life was good. She'd still had an ache in her heart every time she saw Oliver but slowly this version of him, had eased that too.

When he'd asked her out, she'd said yes without any hesitation. She wasn't going to be the barrier to her happiness, and while she didn't know what might happen with Oliver this time, she knew she was taking her shot at happiness with him.

So she didn't want to waste time waiting in line to get into the Louvre, but they walked the streets, kissed on arched stone bridges over the river, visited the gardens at Versailles, and held hands at the top of the Eiffel Tower.

Oliver promised to bring her back when they could stay longer. As it was, the majority of their trip was spent in bed with another chunk of time on the plane. Not that Chloe was complaining, since the plane also had a bedroom.

Oliver delivered her to her apartment Monday morning in time to shower and get ready for class.

CO-CO-CO

Ali entered Oliver's office, without thinking for a second that she should knock. His secretary had nodded and smiled as Ali arrived, indicating that Oliver was not in a meeting. If he had been she would have frowned and waved Ali over to her desk. It was a familiar routine.

What wasn't familiar, was Ali walking into her brother's office to find him lying on his office couch with Chloe straddling his lap, her shirt undone and his hands..."Oh my God your hands!" she shrieked turning around to stare at the door.

She heard movement and clothes rustling and cringed. "I'm sorry, I didn't think. Ollie never let his girlfriends come to his office before, but maybe that was because Dad was just down the hall. I'm really, unspeakable sorry."

"Ali, it's OK," Oliver reassured her. "You can turn around now."

"Are you sure? 'Cause as much as I like Chloe, I really don't feel comfortable seeing how much _you_ like Chloe. At least not this kind of liking."

"Turn around," he said with annoyance.

Ali gingerly turned around her eyes glued to the floor. "Sorry," she said sheepishly.

"It's fine, we shouldn't have been..." Chloe started.

"Making out at Oliver's work?" Ali offered with a faint smile but scrunched forehead.

"Can it Squirt," Oliver commanded.

"On the bright side your bra is very pretty Chloe, where'd you get it?" Ali asked trying to be cool. Chloe flushed again, her eyes darting to Oliver. "He bought it for you, didn't he?" Ali said with a grimace. "At least he has good taste."

"Oh God," Chloe whimpered. POliver wrapped his arm around her to try to comfort her, but Chloe shot him a glare and moved away from him.

"Aw, it's cute actually," Ali teased. "But I really don't need to see that again, so I promise to knock every time I come anywhere near here again."

"Thank you," Oliver said.

"And in return you promise to do the same for me in the future?" Ali tried to wheedle a promise out of her brother.

"Not a chance, Queenie. I take it as my solemn duty to make sure your boyfriends know how badly things will go for them if they move one finger out of line. And surprise is often a good tactic to keep them on their toes."

"Them? Who are all these imaginary boys you plan to threaten on behalf of my virtue?"

"So far it's just the one, which is good. That way I can focus all my attention on him. _Mike_," Oliver growled.

Ali turned to Chloe who still looked awkward. "How did this get turned around on me?" she complained.

CO-CO-CO

The Queens were flying back from Europe when Robert decided that he'd like to see his children, and directed the plane to land in Kansas. Besides he knew Laura was dying to know what was happening between Oliver and Chloe and somehow Oliver, Chloe and Ali had formed a block of silence on the topic. Robert knew Laura would reward him for giving her the opportunity to pry into their children's life in person instead of having to rely solely on Facebook stalking them like so many other parents.

"Oliver," Laura Queen called out for her son as she stepped into his Metropolis home. "Are you up?" she asked continuing through his loft proceeding upstairs towards his room only to stop on the stairs as Chloe and Oliver emerged from his bedroom wearing matching green silk robes with wet hair and large smiles. "Oh." Laura paused to regroup. "Good morning Chloe, this is excellent, now I don't have to track you down."

Chloe froze and her eyes darted down stairs to see Robert standing there with a bland expression on his face. Her hand clutched at the lapels of her robe anxiously, intent on keeping it closed since it was clear to everyone in the room that she was naked underneath.

"I clearly need to change my locks and passwords," Oliver said in resignation, shooting an apologetic look at Chloe. "Sorry."

"What are you apologizing for, it's not as if we haven't found you doing far worse things over the years," Laura said haughtily.

"Laura, let's let them get dressed before you start grilling them," Robert said reasonably.

CO-CO-CO

(2009) One of Ali's best friends from high school had gotten a starring role in a theatre production in Star City, and Ali and Oliver were both heading home for the weekend to catch her performance. At first, Chloe had hesitated to accept their invitation to come with them, but when Robert called her with Laura talking to her through the phone from the background she'd decided to go for it.

She'd only been to Star City in the past, so she could honestly enjoy the modern look of the city and improvements that had resulted as Queen Industries had grown more and more profitable over the interceding years.

Oliver gave into his mother's threats and badgering and stayed at the manner with Chloe (although they were assigned separate bedrooms, no one expected them to actually sleep in separate rooms). He did take her to see his penthouse apartment overlooking Star Park, the large park in the center of the city. His home was much larger than the loft in Metropolis, and less industrial. Chloe could see Laura's touches in the apartment in the pops of color in the pillows, throw blankets and rugs. Otherwise the apartment was very masculine in whites, creams and browns, but his bedroom was, of course, dominated by green.

CO-CO-CO

Sitting outside, on the large deck overlooking the Pacific Ocean, Oliver smiled at how perfectly Chloe fit in with his family. They were eating an early dinner al fresco, before the show. Oliver ate quickly then stood up, drawing everyone's eyes. "I need to make a call."

Robert narrowed his eyes, reading something in Oliver's face, but nodded and smiled at Chloe as she continued answering Laura's questions about her plans for after college.

A few minutes later Robert also stood up. Receiving an annoyed look from his wife he raised his eyebrows innocently. "May I be excused, please?" Laura glared at him. "I need to change for the show."

"You look find Dad," Ali offered, earning a smile from her father.

"Thank you, my darling, but I would like to put on a jacket."

Entering the house, Robert went looking for Oliver, and found him after a few attempts. "What are you doing Oliver?" Robert asked, even though he was able to see that Oliver was looking in the large wall safe hidden behind a wall bookcase in the library room.

"Where'd this stone come from Dad?" Oliver asked holding up a dime sized irregular green stone.

"From your mother's grandfather. He was found it in Pike County, Arkansas."

"The only diamond mine site in the US," Oliver said softly. "So it's a green diamond."

"Son, you know how much I admire Chloe, but don't you think it's a little early to be thinking about giving her diamonds?"

"She already has one," Oliver said seriously, then glanced up at his father with a smile. "Actually she has one that looks almost exactly like this one."

Robert felt a fission of discomfort realizing that the other Oliver must have given Chloe this diamond and she'd brought it with her. "A green diamond? They're fairly rare," Robert said coolly.

"I know."

CO-CO-CO

(1994) "It's her. Look," Laura said demandingly as she entered her husband's home office and shoved a picture in his face.

He shot her a look, but seeing the determined look on her face and knowing that Ali was giving them a run for their money with bedtime, which Laura had just completed alone, Robert obliged her. He looked down to find a picture of a smiling blonde little girl playing on a playground. "I assume you mean that you think this is Chloe?" he said urbanely, earning a glare from his wife.

He glanced up with a straight face to find her standing with her arms akimbo on her hips. "Are you wanting a night on the couch?"

"You wouldn't do that to me, Laur, you know you miss sleeping by me when I'm out of town."

"I miss my kind, intelligent, and agreeable husband."

"But not me?" he said letting his grin show.

"The jerk version of him... no," she said pithily.

"I miss you no matter what your mood," he said easily.

"Do your eyes work, or just your mouth? It's her," she insisted.

"It could be," he agreed.

"Could be?" she said loudly. "Look at those eyes!" she demanded again, shuffling through the photos she'd handed him to find a close up of Chloe's face. "Green. It's her, I know it."

"It could be, this girl-"

"Chloe."

"This little girl, named Chloe, looks very much like the Chloe we met. But there must be hundreds of little girls named Chloe."

"Who live in Metropolis, have blonde hair and green eyes and those three little freckles on her cheek? Oh yes, hundreds of children match that description."

"Do you think our children will inherit your sarcasm?" he questioned playfully but she was not in the mood for his attempts at humor.

"The only reason we have the chance to see our children as grownups is because of this girl. Chloe. You could take this a bit more seriously."

"I do, you know I do," he said with tight lips. "But what do you want me to do Laura? She specifically asked us not to try to find her, not to interfere with her life. Which, by the way, tells me that Oliver inherited your stubborn mule headedness." She gasped at the accusation, but he knew she wasn't really hurt by it, she was just riled up. "She's a child Laur. What does getting excited about finding her get you? You can't meet her, or know her, she's six years old."

"Seven."

"Good to know you're at least listening to me," he joked, trying to lighten the tension between them.

"I want to know where she is; I want to be able to look after her if she needs it. I want to be able to give her back a bit of the generosity that she gave to us. I want to make sure that her decision to save us doesn't have a negative impact on her future. I'm not going to interfere. I'm not crazy enough to walk up to a child on the street and tell her I met her future self in the past. I just want to look after her. Who knows if she'll ever need us, but if she does, I want to know, and if that day comes, I will help her - no matter what you think about it."

"Good, then we're agreed."

She opened her mouth to continue the argument, then realized that he'd agreed with her. "I hope our children don't inherit your contrary nature."

He smiled again and stood up to pull her into his arms. "I would never deny you anything, and you know it. You also know that I understand that we will never be able to repay Chloe for what she did for us. Our lives, our family. I want to make sure that nothing we do hurts her either, and that includes any attempts to alter her life before she crosses our paths organically."

"We will meet her again, I know it," Laura said softly.

"I hope so. I really do."

CO-CO-CO

(May 2010) When Hal popped into town for a visit a week later, Oliver was happy to see his friend, but hadn't forgotten Hal's comments about Ali from his last visit. Oliver handed Hal a bottle of beer they wandered out to Oliver's wide balcony overlooking Metropolis.

"So how was Paris, man?" Hal asked.

"Great," Oliver said, but didn't go into details.

"That's it? Great? No details? Chloe is a beautiful girl and she seems… passionate."

"When have I ever discussed the details of my relationships with you?" Oliver asked with a frown.

Hal shrugged. "So, are you two together now, or is this still a trial run?"

"Why are you so interested in this?" Oliver asked.

"I've never seen you look at a woman like you do with this one. That and Ali seemed pretty concerned that this work out between you and Chloe."

Oliver's eyes bored into Hal's. "I am serious about Chloe, she's different, and this doesn't feel like the start of any other relationship. Ali has no reason to worry."

"Good, that's great. I'd hate to see Ali get hurt."

Oliver gave up trying to ignore his discomfort with Hal's comments about Ali. "Last time you were here, you were joking about Ali, right, man?" he asked trying to sound light.

"Which part?"

"All of it. Child bride, how beautiful she is, how her boyfriend had better watch his back…"

Hal gave Oliver a serious look, recognizing that this wasn't a joke to his friend. "Have I noticed that Ali is growing up beautifully? Yeah. Have I forgotten that she's your little sister and barely 18 years old? No."

"So, you'd never..."

"Never say never man," Hal said with a smile.

Oliver frowned again. "I love you man, but if you mess with my sister even that fancy ring of yours won't keep you safe."

Hal laughed and Oliver decided to let it go. He trusted his friend and knew he'd never looked at Ali as anything but a little sister. In the future… well Ali could do worse. A lot worse, he thought with a frown.

"While you're here, are you up for harassing her boyfriend a bit more?" Oliver asked with a dark look.

"Always," Hal agreed and the two men shook hands. "That kid has a squirrely look to him."

"I know, unfortunately Ali and Chloe refuse to let me get rid of him," Oliver said mournfully.

CO-CO-CO

Later that night, Chloe was late to meet Oliver and Hal at a bar, entering and fighting her way through the crowded room towards where she could see Oliver's blonde head above the crowd at the VIP bar. When she got close enough to see him clearly it was not a good picture. Oliver and Hal each had multiple women, tall gorgeous women, surrounding them. Chloe froze, feeling a flurry of emotions whip through her: hurt, anger, and disappointment.

Oliver saw her immediately and easily slipped free of the arms that tried to hold him in place. "Chloe, good you're here," he said without a hint of guilt. He smiled and his eyes were soft and welcoming. Chloe was still frozen, stuck, uncertainty clear on her face. Oliver frowned and moved forward to slide his hands up her arms, dipping his head down to press a kiss to her lips. Getting no response, he glanced over his shoulder and saw the disappointed expressions on several female faces. Hal grinned at him, clearly thinking that Oliver was going to be in trouble with Chloe.

"Chloe…" he wasn't sure what to say, not liking that she might be hurt, but also not happy that she'd clearly suspected him of less than appropriate behavior.

She made an effort to pull herself together and smiled at him brightly. "Sorry I'm late, long day, I could use a drink."

Oliver nodded but escorted her to the bar with a hand on the small of her back. He seated her on a barstool between himself and Hal, leaning on the bar, his large body surrounding her. He nodded to the bartender who immediately moved to Oliver to take his order.

Chloe ordered a martini, and turned to greet Hal. "Hey Hal, did you come back to town to visit Ali?" she asked with a teasing glance at Oliver.

Hal laughed and was happy to see the tension fade from his friend's shoulders. "Absolutely. Ollie and I already went to see her. So I hear you're a fan of Mike."

Chloe shrugged lightly. "I wouldn't say I'm a fan, but he seems to like Ali for the right reasons."

"If getting in her pants counts as a right reason," Oliver murmured bitterly.

Chloe rolled her eyes. "She's 18 Ollie, not eight. She's going to have boyfriends, and she's going to have sex eventually. You're going to have to face it."

Hal took in Oliver's sad resignation and flagged down the bartender. "Three shots of whisky, pronto."

Oliver nodded in thanks and he and Hal downed their shots with ease while Chloe regarded hers warily for a moment then tipped her head back and downed it in one go.

"Nice," Hal complimented her, then turned his head to Oliver. "This one is definitely a keeper."

CO-CO-CO

A bit later, when Hal was occupied with a beautiful redhead, Chloe turned to Oliver, pulling him close and pressing a kiss below his ear before she spoke. "Sorry. About earlier, I just wasn't expecting…"

"I wouldn't hurt you like that Chloe," Oliver said softly, his head dipped down to speak into her ear, partly to be heard in the loud bar, partly to keep their words private.

"I know," she agreed, but Oliver wasn't sure she did know. They stayed close together, clearly only interested in each other. "I know that there are always women around you, I know it doesn't mean anything, I'm just not used to it," she explained, her expression contorting with guilt and uncertainty. "We spend most of our time alone… so it hasn't been an issue. Yet."

"It's not an issue at all Chloe. I'm with you, and if this…" he waved his hand at the women around Hal, "bothers you, just say the word."

She smiled up at him, pulling his mouth to hers and pressing several soft kisses to his mouth. Oliver reciprocated, pinning Chloe between him and the bar. When they finally broke apart, Chloe was prettily flushed. "So you'd get rid of Hal for me," she teased, noticing Hal grinning at them over Oliver's shoulder.

"Absolutely," Oliver agreed without hesitation.

"Hey, dude, where's your loyalty?" Hal complained with a broad smile.

Ollie grinned at his old friend and wrapped an arm around Chloe, clearly staking his claim to anyone that might be looking. "My loyalty is exactly where is should be. Where was your loyalty when you tried to steal my girl?"

"In my defense, she wasn't your girl at the time," Hal said, completely at ease. He winked at Chloe who rolled her eyes.

"You knew I was interested, she might not have known, but you did. And how did I find you?" Oliver said with dissatisfaction. "With _my_ girl, on _my_ couch."

"While this is charming, I believe _I'm_ the girl in question, I'm standing right here, and I have a name," Chloe said with sharp amusement.

"Chloe, beautiful Chloe," Hal said with an admiring smile and gleaming eyes. "How could we forget? But let's not lose the salient point here… Oliver was jealous. Oliver Queen with all his money and connections and fucking charm was jealous of little old us."

Oliver tried to look amused and cool, but Chloe could see some underlying tension in him. "I'm not swayed by money or charm, Oliver had to show me who he really was to… get the girl. But for the record, as much as I enjoy your company Hal, nothing was ever going to happen there."

Hal and Oliver both laughed, though Hal pressed a hand over his heart as if she'd wounded him.

"How did you two meet anyway? I never knew," Chloe said then grimaced a bit, catching the tiny slip too late.

"Ah, man, it's a good story," Hal laughed, tightening his arm around the redhead who apparently had won his attention for the night at least. "I was, uh, bored one night in Coast City, looking for something to do and ended up at a underground fight club."

"You were fighting?"

"Hell no, I was betting. Oliver was in the ring," Hal tossed out, getting the pay off he was looking for when Chloe turned her incredulous face to Oliver.

"Seriously?"

CO-CO-CO

(1998) Sitting in his office high above Star City, Robert frowned at his phone and hung up, immediately dialing his wife on his cell phone.

"Hey Hon," she greeted him cheerfully.

"Laura, where are you?"

"Just running an errand."

"Oh, OK, good. So you're free to meet for lunch?" he asked with raised eyebrows and a disbelieving tone.

"No, I'm running an errand."

"And where is this errand that you left by private jet this morning without telling me?"

She hesitated a moment then decided to take the offensive, and he grinned, already having anticipated it. "Are you suggesting that I have to ask your permission before going anywhere?"

"Knowing if you've left the state is too much to ask?"

"Who said I've left the state?"

"Your flight plan."

He heard muffle cursing then she came back on the phone. "Well since you know, you can pickup Ollie and Ali from school today. No need for me to race to get back."

"Back from Metropolis? It's dangerous Laur, you know that. It's his backyard," Robert referenced Lionel Luthor, the man who wanted them dead.

"I'll be in and out and I have a full security detail and another waiting for me on the ground. I'm not stupid, Robert. Nor am I reckless, before you accuse me of that."

"Why are you going to Metropolis?" he asked in irritation.

"I have an errand."

"Be more specific or the pilot will be changing his flight plan in one minute and you'll be landing in Denver," he threatened.

"Moira Sullivan is meteor infected and started the paperwork to commit herself to a psych ward. You know that they won't know how to treat her and she'll be vulnerable to Lionel if she is committed. You know he's been sniffing around her."

"We sent her the paperwork for the Starlight facility," he said wearily.

"It's not enough. She's proud and doesn't want a handout from a stranger."

"And you're going to convince her that she's wrong?"

"I have a lot of experience with proud stubborn people," Laura said confidently.

"You stay with your security, if they tell you to duck, you duck. You have four hours on the ground then they will forcibly remove you and carry you back to the plane, with or without Moira Sullivan." He sighed deeply, rubbing at the tension in his neck. "There were other ways to accomplish this Laura."

"I don't like sitting on the sidelines," she said softly.

"I know. Hurry home."

CO-CO-CO

(2000) Robert arrived home from a day out with Ali at the science center. She was struggling with engaging with science at school, not engaging and Robert thought she might respond to a more fun application of the principle they were learning. "Laura?" he called out, surprised not to find her at the door waiting for them.

They were having a parenting conflict about Ali's dislike of math and science. Robert thought she just needed to apply some discipline, and Laura felt that Ali was more artistic than logical, and no amount of pushing her would change that. They'd compromised. Robert agreed to stop pushing Ali, including inquiring about her grades and homework each night, and Laura agreed to let him expose Ali to the more fun aspect to science.

Ali loved animals, but no number of visits to the zoo or science center or even QI's jet propulsion lab interested Ali. "Laura?" he called again.

"Daddy, I'm supposed to talk to Ollie in…" she grabbed his wrist and turned it over to peer at his watch. "Thirteen minutes."

Robert arched one eyebrow, so apparently math wasn't an issue when she wanted something. "Go ahead honey, and tell Oliver he owes his mother a call."

Ali raced up the stairs, pausing at the top. "Thanks for today Daddy. Sorry I don't understand all the stuff you like so much."

Robert swallowed hard. "I'm just happy to spend time with you baby." She smiled at him happily, then raced away, eager to get to her room to talk to her brother. When Oliver had left for college on the east coast, Ali's little heart had broken, but Oliver had made a concerted effort to keep in regular touch with Ali. They had a regular schedule of calls, and emailed each other most days.

The closeness between his children never failed to leave Robert choking back his emotions.

But right now, he was more interested in finding his wife. Maybe he'd even tell her she was right, and he needed to stop pushing Ali and let her be who she is. Even if that meant getting a C in science.

He walked back to the garden room that Laura favored, it was full of plants but also housed her desk and a comfortable chair she liked to curl up and read in.

That's where he found her with tears rolling down her cheeks. "Laura, what is it? Is it Ollie?" he asked worriedly.

"No, everything's fine. It's her. I was right all along. It's really her." Robert knew exactly who she was talking about. "Chloe Sullivan moved with her father Gabe to Smallville two days ago. She's already met Clark Kent."

He rubbed his hand over her shoulder, then tipped her face up to his. "Everything is as it should be, why are you so sad."

"I'm not sad. It's just really her."

"Promise me…"

"I already promised. This is my last report. They'll keep watching her but they won't tell me anything unless we need to know. I won't do anything more, I don't want to change her life… but I'm going to need your help to wait however many years it takes for her to come find us again."

"And I'm going to need your help making sure that I don't hurt Ali when my hopes for her don't match up with who she is."

"Deal."

"Deal."

CO-CO-CO

(May, 2010) As graduation approached Chloe felt a growing excitement but she also regarded the date with some unease. She'd never returned to school in her past, but here in this time Dark Thursday hadn't derailed her life. She hadn't started working full time, got married or been widowed. To people who didn't know her secrets she appeared to be a normal 21 year old girl about to graduate with a shiny new BA in Journalism and Public Policy. Except for that whole dating a billionaire thing.

And that was where the rub was. Ali was returning home to Star City for the summer and Chloe wasn't sure how much time Oliver would be spending in Metropolis without the draw of his sister. He hadn't brought it up and neither had she. Chloe was trying something new in this relationship. She was trying to take thing as they came and not over think every little thing.

She'd been in this reality for a year now and while she was the same Chloe from the past, and had all the baggage that came with that life, she was trying to let some of the good things from this life soften her emotional scars. But it was tough. Not only did she have to bite her lip when the impulse to tell Oliver she loved him strike, which it did with increasing frequency each day, but she had to stop herself from being the girl who asked the "what are we" relationship question.

She knew Oliver wasn't dating anyone else, they'd had the conversation about being exclusive, but she also knew that this Oliver had a history of long term relationships, and they always came to an end. She knew he cared about her, felt it every time they were together, but he hadn't said 'I love you' yet, and she wasn't going to push for the words or a verbal commitment.

They'd only been dating two months. She could be patient.

CO-CO-CO

Chloe was allotted six tickets to her graduation ceremony and they were quickly taken up. Gabe, Lois, Clark, Martha Kent, Oliver, and Ali. When Robert and Laura Queen expressed an interest in attending, Chloe had reluctantly started to say that she didn't have any more tickets, then she'd burst into laughter.

"Oh my God, I'm so ridiculous. I don't have any more tickets, but I think if someone were to mention that Robert and Laura Queen were interested in attending someone would work it out. Sometimes I forget who you are."

"No, sometimes you forget who other people think we are, you know who we are," Robert said softly, and he shared a smile with Chloe. "I'll handle it, if you don't mind us crashing your party."

"Talk to your children, they're the ones battling it out with Lois over the party. I just want to have lunch with my dad before the ceremony," Chloe said with humor. Lois was more than pleased to have access to Oliver's funds and influence, but not as happy to have to at least pay lip service to his ideas for Chloe's graduation party. The last time Chloe had checked the guest list had grown to over 200 and included friends, family, coworkers, and Oliver's team.

CO-CO-CO

(May 22, 2010) The university ended up giving The Queens a private box next to the university president, and Laura promptly invited Gabe and Martha to share their seating rather than be in the crowd. Dressed in her cap and gown Chloe made the introductions between Senator Kent and the Queens, realizing that the Queens had probably been keeping tabs on the Kents for years. "Robert and Laura Queen, this is Martha Kent, our state senator and a second mom to me and Lois."

Robert shook her hand formally, but Laura broke through any stiffness immediately. "I hear that your son is transferring to Met U in the fall."

"Yes, Clark has taken a few years to decided that an education is important, but he's finally gotten there," Martha said with a smile.

"I'm sure you helped him along with that decision. I have a son, we should share war stories about the horrors of that experience." She smiled deeply, "And the joys."

"Chloe seems to like Oliver very much," Martha agreed with a teasing look at the girl in question causing Gabe to laugh lightly.

"The feeling is wholly reciprocated by Oliver," Laura agreed. "Though I think Oliver and Clark are not the best of friends."

"And that's my cue to go," Chloe said with an awkward smile. She hugged Gabe goodbye and received a wink from Robert before she ran off, holding her black graduates cap to her head as she went.

CO-CO-CO

After walking across the stage and hearing her friends and family hollering for her, Chloe felt like her face was going to split from smiling so much. She was trying to work her way through the crowd when suddenly Oliver was in front of her. She smiled up at him and threw herself into his arms. "I did it."

"Was there any doubt, Spitfire?" he asked, lifting her off her feet and twirling her around before setting her back on her feet but keeping her in the circle of his arms.

She smiled deeply. "Life throws obstacles in our path all the time. I just want to appreciate this moment while it lasts," she explained with her past heavy in her mind.

"I agree completely, but for now, I think my parents and your father and Senator Kent were hoping to have a private drink with you before we steal you away for a night of debauchery."

Chloe laughed and waved at a friend in the crowd before letting Oliver lead her to where their parents were waiting. As they approached Chloe could see Lois and Clark had already made their way and watched with wary eyes as Clark Kent, The Traveler, shook hands with Robert Queen.

"Something wrong?" Oliver asked.

"Just wishing that my mom could have been here," Chloe offered one truth to hide another.

"I'm sorry she isn't," Oliver agreed, squeezing her hand.

"It's OK, thanks to you I got to see her just a few weeks ago," Chloe referenced the impromptu trip to Star City that had offered the opportunity for a long overdue mother/daughter reunion. Moira was much better in this reality, but unable to be fully in her daughter's life.

(flashback)

"Chloe, you look just like her," Moira said with tears in her eyes.

Chloe looked around carefully before linking her arm with her mother's and walking her outside where they could have some privacy. "You remember."

"How could I forget, you were so angry with me. I tried, baby, I really tried, but I couldn't…"

"I know, I forgive you. I know you tried your best."

CO-CO-CO

* * *

Words 5826

AN- I looked at the things I still wanted to tell in this story- after the end point, and realized that there are at least 6 one-shot type sequels. That seems unreasonable.

Clearly there will be more than 18 chapters in this story, but we are closing in on the end now. I know I keep saying that, but I'm trying to convince myself and get you guys used to the idea.


	18. Ch18: CLOSE CALLS AND DECLARATIONS

_Hardly any reviews here on ff for this story the last few chapters. Sad now._

* * *

**Ch. 18: Close Calls and Declarations**

CO-CO-CO

"_When I saw you, I was afraid to meet you... When I met you, I was afraid to kiss you...  
When I kissed you, I was afraid to love you... Now that I love you, I'm afraid to lose you."_

Queen Industries was doing their annual expo for local students where they put all the technology on display in interactive exhibits to spark interest in science and hopefully in several more years have well educated, innovative new hires. Robert had instituted the program after he had failed to spark an interest in his own daughter. He insisted all his top staff be present so if a student wasn't interested in science or technology they could still talk to the marketing and business side of QI's brain trust. Oliver was on scene as management, a family representative for when Robert couldn't be there, and as the local celebrity.

Oliver had been in Star City for seven days, staying two days after the Expo ended to fabricate a new bow in his workroom. Chloe had been going to work early, hoping to bank up some general interest stories so she could take some time off with Oliver when he returned.

It was almost 7am in Kansas when Chloe got the call. "Hey AC, what's up?" she answered cheerfully.

"Can you talk Chlo?" he had asked in an uncharacteristically serious tone.

Chloe glanced around the DP basement and stood up and walked to the supply room she often used for private conversations, "Just a sec... yeah, go."

"Oliver is hurt, Bart's coming to get you, he should be there in a few minutes."

Chloe felt like someone was squeezing her heart cruelly, and tears filled her eyes, but she struggled to employ her logic. "What happened?"

"He was patrolling last night and got stabbed."

Chloe struggled to control her breathing so she could speak. "Emil?"

"With him now."

"What happened, AC?" she asked in a wavering tone.

"We don't know, his glasses were lost, once Bart gets you, we'll send him out to where Vic found Oliver to start searching for them. He's critical, he lost a lot of blood, but he's hanging on. Oliver's strong, he'll pull through but he'll want you here, and we need to figure out how to cover for him until he's back on his feet," AC reassured her.

She swallowed hard and tried to reign in her swirling emotions. "OK, I'll handle his parents, can you patrol as GA tonight?" Chloe asked, already planning in her head. Oliver would be alright, he would, and if he wasn't… well Chloe could do something about that too. She'd learned to be careful, that there were often unintended consequences that couldn't be anticipated, so if Oliver pulled through with just some mandated time off from patrolling, so be it. But if it was anything worse… Chloe would cross that bridge when and if it came.

"Yeah of course, the green leather is becoming pretty familiar now." AC often patrolled as Oliver in Star City or Metropolis when Oliver was elsewhere to keep his identity hidden. It had been Chloe's idea after she'd revealed she knew about Oliver's green leather predilection. They really did need to be smarter about their secret identities.

"I gotta go, see you in a few," Chloe said to AC, hearing Bart in the bullroom asking for her.

CO-CO-CO

Arriving at Oliver's Star City penthouse, Chloe shook off her disorientation from the trip and headed immediately to Oliver's bedroom. Not for the first time, she considered coming up with some story that would allow her to use her time travel to travel- moving only seconds through time, but allowing her to go great distances without the shaking and cold of traveling with Bart and Clark.

Emil glanced up at her as she entered, then went back to changing the bandage on Oliver's side. Chloe could see the entry wound, and while it didn't look good, it could have been worse. "How is he?" she asked softly, seeing that he was either sleeping, unconscious or sedated.

"He's stable. I had to operate to repair damage to his spleen and perforations to both his stomach and small intestine. But it's the blood loss I'm most worried about."

"That much damage?"

"He won't have much of a scar, but the blade moved around inside his abdominal cavity and did some pretty heavy internal damage," Emil explained.

"And the blood loss?" Chloe questioned gravely.

"The tests are all positive for now. He was out there for awhile, until Victor found him."

"How much did he lose?"

"More than he could afford. His internal organs were starting to shut down when I got here," Emil gave her the detail she was looking for.

"But you don't think there will be any lasting damage?"

Emil explained about the tests he'd run, and how quickly Oliver had returned to normal stats once he'd received a transfusion. He continued to the aftercare instructions. "He'll need several weeks of rest, which I know he won't accept quietly."

"Oliver never was a good patient," she said softly feeling like she could breathe again knowing Oliver was out of danger. "Can he be moved?"

Emil frowned. "Probably, as soon as tonight if it was necessary."

"There are reports about the Green Arrow being injured last night. If Oliver is in Star City and suddenly is out of sight or injured, it will draw too much attention."

"What's your plan?"

"We take him back to Metropolis, and show that he was there and hurt before this happened and have AC patrol Star City tonight to throw off suspicion even further. I'll need you to falsify medical records."

"I can do that, but if your plan is that he was treated at Met Gen, to leave a public record, it won't work. All intakes and charts are entered into the computer in real time, a paper record with no matching electronic record will be a red flag to anyone who's looking," Emil said regretfully."And you can't hack in, the security is state of the art, provided by Robert Queen himself to protect the meteor infected patients there."

"I'll handle that," Chloe said grimly.

Emil gave her a long look, but nodded. "I'll get the paperwork done as soon as I wash up." He finished changing the bandage and checked Oliver's vitals before standing up. "You can talk to him, hold his hand. He's sedated, so he's not in any pain right now."

"Thank you," Chloe acknowledged and moved to sit on the side of Oliver's bed. She took his hand in her smaller one and stroked it gently. "Damn it Ollie, you took a few years off my life this time."

CO-CO-CO

"_The mother-child relationship is paradoxical and, in a sense, tragic.  
It requires the most intense love on the mother's side, yet this very love must help the  
child grow away from the mother, and to become fully independent." Erich Fromm_

Chloe knew she had to call Oliver's parents, but she also knew what the team didn't – that they knew about his secret identity. Talking to his parents was a tougher task. "Hi Laura, it's Chloe."

"Chloe my darling," Laura greeted her warmly over the phone. "What can I do for you?"

"Is Robert around?" Chloe asked, knowing that Robert had planned on taking a few days off following the expo.

"Yes he is, Chloe, is something wrong?"

"Can you get him on the phone?" Chloe asked not wanting to have to go through it twice.

"I'm here Chloe, you can speak openly," Robert chimed in, and Chloe could tell she was on speaker phone.

"Oliver is going to be fine, but he was hurt last night," Chloe lead with the good news, knowing that it wouldn't be much comfort to his parents.

"What?" Laura's voice was high with alarm, and Chloe knew Robert would be wrapping his arm around her in comfort even as he dealt with his own fear quietly.

"What's his condition?" Robert asked with a deeper tone than normal.

"Stable, he's woken up, he's fine, I promise. I would tell you if you needed to be here," Chloe said honestly. "I'd like you to come, but I know that Oliver doesn't want to draw you into this."

"I don't care what he wants, where are you? I'll be there as soon as humanly possible," Laura said harshly, still reeling from the idea of Oliver being seriously hurt.

"It's time," Robert agreed with his wife.

Chloe felt her determination wavering. "That's not what he wants," Chloe said softly.

"What do you want us to do Chloe?" Robert asked calmly. "If he's OK, then we can wait."

"No, I…" Laura disagreed.

"He's going to be fine, I promise, he was hurt in Star City, we're here now, but I'm taking him back to Metropolis to distance him from the Green Arrow incident here," Chloe explained. "I'm going to jump back to Sunday night and set up a cover story for him. The story will be that Oliver got hurt in Metropolis on Sunday night. The story should break later tonight, you can arrive in Metropolis anytime after that."

"If you need anything, for Oliver or your story, just let me know," Robert offered.

"What? That's it? No, Chloe call us when you go back, call then and just tell us to come to Metropolis then, we'll arrive to visit Ali or go to a art show, whatever, then we'll be there when you arrive," Laura insisted.

"OK, but you have to wait until the story breaks to come over. The timing is going to be difficult. The team knows when Oliver got hurt, if the story gets out before I can 'realistically' plant it, I'm going to have some difficult questions to answer," Chloe agreed to Laura's motherly demands.

CO-CO-CO

Victor found her a few hours later lying on Oliver's uninjured side. Chloe had fallen asleep, but Oliver had woken up and was looking down at the small blonde nestled into his side carefully. He slipped his arm under her and pulled her so she was lying partially on his chest. "Ollie," she breathed in her sleep and the look of love on Oliver's face made Victor remember what it was like to feel that way. He closed the door and left as silently as he came.

CO-CO-CO

"_Friendship multiplies the good of life and divides the evil." Baltasar Gracian_

"I don't understand how you're going to pull this off," Victor argued later, staring at Chloe.

"Just trust me."

"Emil said you can't get the records created, so this cover story of yours is never going to work. Why don't we just say he took off with you on a romantic vacation?"

"Because people saw me in Metropolis this morning, they know I wasn't here or off somewhere else with Oliver last night," Chloe explained with dwindling patience. "I suppose we could say he took off with someone else."

"No," Victor shot down her facetiously offered alternative. "Oliver would kill us, and his parents would kill him. I just want to understand how you're going to do what you say you're going to do."

"Does it matter? You don't believe me when I say I'm not psychic, so how does any explanation I might offer change anything?" Chloe argued. "What matters is that I can do it. So either you trust me or you don't."

"We do," AC said loyally.

"You know we do," Vic agreed in resignation.

"You get my vote," Bart piped in.

"Fine," Chloe said shortly, then blew out a noisy breath. "Thanks." She looked up and met each of their eyes individually. "I'm sorry I can't tell you, but…"

"We all have things we keep private, Chlo," AC dismissed. "Though you do seem to know all my secrets," he teased.

"Please, as if you're so mysterious," Chloe smiled back at him.

"No offense to Bart, but I'm not sure he's going to be a comfortable way for Oliver to travel," Vic inserted, getting back to planning.

"No, I was hoping Hal would call me back, but Clark will have to do," Chloe said with a rueful frown. It was no secret Clark and Oliver weren't friends. Oliver would hate being indebted to Metropolis's resident hero, and Clark would offer a lecture along with his help, which Chloe just wasn't in the mood for under the present circumstances.

CO-CO-CO

Once Chloe had situated Oliver in his room at the Clock Tower in Metropolis, gotten Emil a glass of soda water to settle his stomach after traveling with Bart, and shooed Clark out of the apartment she settled down to hack into the Metropolis Police Department database.

She needed to know who was on duty in what areas, what crimes had been reported, and where to set her little play. Filing the report wouldn't be difficult, but she'd need to make sure she did it right so as not to set off any suspicions but still get Oliver's name into the report.

CO-CO-CO

Once Chloe had her data and timeline straight, she made sure Oliver was sleeping and asked Victor to stay with him until Chloe returned.

"Chloe," Victor called to her as she stepped onto Oliver's elevator to leave.

"Yeah?"

"Be careful. We never send a teammate out on a mission alone, but I trust you and what you say you can do. Just come back without a scratch on you, alright?"

"Piece of cake." Chloe smiled. "And Vic? It means a lot to me that you trust me." Her smile deepened. "I know what you're thinking, but, I'm not psychic, and I won't be alone."

He glared at her but then laughed as she tapped her forehead and looked at him knowingly as the elevator doors closed.

CO-CO-CO

Leaping back to two nights earlier, Chloe set her plan in action. Thanking the stars that Oliver was a hermit when it came to making his newest toys, she knew that no one had seen him since the expo ended on Saturday afternoon. He'd retreated to his workshop and hadn't left until he'd gone on patrol on Monday night.

In was Sunday now, again, as Chloe found the street corner where a couple had been mugged later that evening, the latest in a recent rash of muggings, which had resulted in the male victim being stabbed as he tried to resist giving over his wallet. Chloe's trip to the past, would alter their future, and keep Oliver clear of any suspicion about being Green Arrow.

Chloe hid in the deep shadows of the nearby alley, with Lois in one of Oliver's fancy cars with vanity plates, just down the block. She didn't have to wait long.

The mugger sauntered down the street and Chloe held up his mug shot to confirm his identity before she fell in step behind him. Waiting until he was even with Oliver's car, she drew his attention. "Hey, can you help me, I'm lost?" She smiled as he turned around, getting a secondary confirmation that it was the right guy when his lips curled up in a sneer.

The mugger, a rough looking Caucasian man with very stained and damaged teeth leered at her. "Sure thing, baby."

"Aww, so sweet," Chloe cooed even as she lifted her hand and sprayed pepper spray into his face.

"Ahh! You bitch!" he cried, covering his eyes and stumbling backyards.

Chloe threw her purse onto the ground, the items from it scattering over the sidewalk. Lois opened the passenger door, pushing out a life size man doll (from her gym's self defense class) onto the sidewalk and Chloe kicked the mugger in the head, leaving him dazed and lying on the sidewalk, then she started screaming.

"No, help, no help!" Chloe cried out, but not too loud. "Oliver, oh my god, Oliver!"

Lois shot Chloe an amused look as she slid out of the car to crouch over the mannequin on the sidewalk. "Chloe, he's really hurt!" She yelled loudly and a few people a half block away stopped to watch, but no one moved forward to help.

"Help! Please!" Chloe cried louder, secure now that they could get the dummy into the car before anyone got close enough to see it wasn't a real person. "Call the police, please!" Chloe continued to shriek, and saw a few bystanders start to move closer with their phones raised to their ears.

"Chloe, we can't wait, he's hurt bad!" Lois added her next line, as she cut open a bag of blood and spilled it onto the sidewalk, splattering a bit at Chloe who gave her a dirty look. "Gotta make it look good right cuz," Lois said softly.

Rolling her eyes while sobbing loudly, Chloe helped Lois lift the Oliver stand-in into the car, managing to get even more blood on her clothes and hands, then raced around to the driver's side and climbed in. "What about the police?" Chloe asked loudly, still convincingly bereaved.

"Just get him to the hospital, I'll handle the police," Lois replied just as the first bystander arrived at the scene.

Chloe pulled away from the curb, happy with their performance.

CO-CO-CO

When the police arrived, Lois fed them their story. Oliver had taken her and her cousin out for a coffee, which Lois and Chloe had in fact stopped to get and had been recorded on camera doing so. Lois helpfully offered the detail that Oliver had remained outside in his car, taking a phone call. Then when Lois had seen a purse she wanted to look at in a nearby store window, the girls had wandered down the block where they were accosted by a mugger. Oliver had heard their cries for help and jumped out punching the mugger who had retaliated by stabbing him.

Since he'd been losing so much blood and neither girl could find their phones they'd lifted him into the car and Chloe had taken him to the hospital.

The story told by the bystanders matched Lois's and the scene sold the tale convincingly, as well. Lois happily accepted the handy-wipe handed to her by a paramedic wiping away the blood on her hands. She couldn't believe that Oliver kept a few pints of his own blood ready for when and if he needed a transfusion, but it sure had come in handy.

CO-CO-CO

At the hospital Chloe dropped the charts with Emil's treatment for a "John Doe" and Chloe Sullivan, treated for shock. She watched as the nurse entered the data and prayed that Lois would be able to play dumb, ("What do you mean, what's his name? It's Oliver. I told you that. Oh my, I don't feel good," Lois offered then dropped into a dead faint.)

Chloe sat outside a private hospital room flanked by two of Robert Queen's security as two uniformed officers arrived. "Ms. Sullivan?" The first officer, slightly older than the other, inquired, glancing at the dark suited guards. She looked up and nodded, not having to fake her worried expression. She had to sell this now. "Have you received treatment?" She nodded again. "I'm sorry for your evening to end like this Ms. Sullivan, but we need to ask you some questions. Your cousin wasn't able to fill in all the pieces for us, such as who your companion was tonight."

Chloe looked confused, "Oliver Queen. You didn't know that?" she questioned innocently.

The officers stood up straighter and glanced at the security surrounding her more warily. Right on cue, one of the guards, pressed his fingers to his ear and nodded. "Yes sir, yes sir, we're with her now, the police have arrived."

Looking up at the officers, the hard look he gave them had them tensing up. "Ms. Sullivan. Robert Queen would like you to call him now."

"Of course," Chloe agree meekly. She quickly dialed Robert's cell phone and turned on the waterworks. "Robert… Ollie… he's hurt. Emil is with him, but there was so much blood," she wept. "When will you get here?"

"You're a very convincing actress Chloe, bravo," Robert smiled grimly from the plane he was on currently on his way to Metropolis.

"He… he wants… to talk to you," Chloe stuttered, holding the phone out to the officers.

"Yes, sir, Mr. Queen sir. No, sir. Ms. Sullivan is uninjured. We just need to question her… not sir, there is no reason it can't wait a few hours. Yes sir. No sir, I… we will need to talk to your son, but… yes sir, of course we'll defer to his doctor. Yes sir, thank you sir. Yes sir, we have the man in custody now. Thank you sir," he repeated then handed the phone back to Chloe, looking shell shocked.

"Robert?"

"Now it's up to Emil, you're sure he'll play his part?"

"Yes," Chloe answered quickly then added some shuttering breaths.

"We'll see you in a few hours Chloe, and if I had any doubt that you are the perfect match for my son, this would have done away with it," Robert said softly.

On the plane, Laura still looked tense, but smiled at her husband. "I love it when you're so forceful," she tried to flirt, but looked wreaked. "Very attractive."

"Hmm," Robert hummed, and sat down by her and pulled her into his arms. "He'll be fine Laur, and when we get there, you can smoother him to death and let him think long and hard about what he'll suffer if he ever lets himself get hurt again."

Laura choked on a laugh as her tears broke free and she cried into her husband's chest.

CO-CO-CO

Emil played his part, but Chloe knew he had questions when the real call to help Oliver in Star City came in the following night, but he kept quiet, his dark eyes following Chloe and wondering what other tricks she had up her sleeve.

The story came out just as Chloe had wanted it, too, with help from Lois, Robert, and Emil. The hospital and police reports were withheld until Oliver could give his statement, and Oliver granted Chloe's editor the exclusive. Oliver Queen was branded a hero, although an inept one, who had rescued the girl, but ended up injured.

On the west coast, AC preformed his duties as Green Arrow, and the rumors that Star City's hero had been injured were laid to rest.

CO-CO-CO

Oliver did not play his role quietly. Oliver wanted to get up out of bed that night, but Chloe wouldn't allow it, and when his parents showed up, Oliver knew he was sunk, but he wasn't going down quietly. The only good part of the experience was that Chloe brought a bag with her the next day and stayed for the following three days and nights.

Oliver wasn't sure who was worse to deal with when it came to pushy, obstinate females. His mother who demanded that he stay in bed and eat soup and steak, his sister how couldn't look at him without crying, or Chloe who refused to sleep with him until Emil gave him the all clear.

And through it all his father just laughed at him. Nothing could have convinced Robert of Oliver's health more than his frustration with his unwanted abstinence and his mother's overzealous caretaking.

CO-CO-CO

"_My mother's love for me was so great I have worked hard to justify it." Marc Chagall_

A week later Oliver finally got his mother to agree to leave by threatening that either she left of he would check into a hotel himself. Seeing her out, he found Chloe sitting on his couch flipping through a leather bound book. She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. Oliver moved to her quickly. "Chloe, what's wrong?"

"Your family…" she said in a whispery voice.

"I know, but they're gone now," he said lightly and she frowned and punched him in the shoulder. "Oh, ow," he moaned and Chloe immediately looked stricken. "I'm kidding Chloe, wrong side, and I'm fine. In fact Emil should be here in a few minutes, so… why are you crying? I can't make love to you when you look so sad."

"I wasn't snooping, I was just looking…" she said softly, and turned to book towards him.

"Oh," Oliver said in realization. His mother had written him a series of letters as far back as 1989, coinciding with Lionel Luthor's first attempt to kill his parents he knew now. They'd been delivered to him randomly over the years, beginning when he was 15 years old.

He glanced at the letter Chloe had been reading. "My mother always told me I would find a great love. I'm not sure I ever believed her until the first time I kissed you."

"I love your family, Oliver, but you need to call Emil now," Chloe said, setting the book aside and crawling into his lap. "Do you feel better?" she asked, raining kisses over his face as her hands slid under his shirt, bunching it up under his armpits until he raised his arms, allowing her to pull it off him.

"Yes."

"And you promise that you're not lying to me?"

"I promise," he agreed, pulling her shirt over her head as well.

He was reaching for her bra when she pushed his hands away. "no, not until you call Emil and reschedule, we've had enough audiences already, poor Emil doesn't need another lesson in anatomy."

Oliver pulled her close enough to kiss then pulled her over his shoulder and walked to his desk with her dangling to make the call.

CO-CO-CO

Oliver knew he was in love with Chloe, he knew he trusted her. He would trust her with his own life, and more importantly with the lives of his family and teammates. But that didn't mean it sat well with him that she was still keeping secrets.

He couldn't figure it out, no matter how he tried, and his mother's words on the matter echoed in his ears. He had pieces, so many pieces, little slips, inconsistencies, and even tangible evidence (the green diamond) but it was like they were all to different puzzles. Nothing added up.

Chloe seemed to know his parents and vice versa before they'd met. Which implied that they were lying about it being their first meeting. But Oliver couldn't find any proof of that, nor any reason or likely circumstance where they would have crossed paths.

She seemed to know things that she couldn't or shouldn't. And not just about Oliver or his family, but also the members of his team. She was a first rate hacker, and people were comfortable talking to Chloe, maybe she was just good at piecing together information into a complete picture, better than Oliver seemed to be.

Then there was the fact that Chloe had seemed to dislike Oliver so much upon first meeting. Oliver wasn't so vain as to think that everyone had to like him, but there seemed something personal in her reaction to him, almost as if he'd hurt her, but Oliver was sure he'd never met her before. She wasn't someone he would forget. That at least could be explained away by the ex-boyfriend that apparently resembled him, but Chloe had never mentioned the man's name or anything about him outside of that one time with Ali.

Which led to his next complaint, Chloe was very closed mouthed about her past. She was always reluctant to talk about her previous relationships.

And then there was the green diamond. She had a diamond exactly like one his mother owned. His parents had assured him that Chloe wasn't related to them in any way, but what were the odds of her having a diamond from the same mine, as one his mother had inherited from her grandfather.

Oliver notched another arrow into his bow and fired it at the target, feeling no satisfaction when he made another direct hit. Chloe entered Watchtower and smiled at him. She slipped off her jacket and wandered over to where a computer was running a search for her to check on its progress.

The guys on the team all thought Chloe was psychic- but since she denied it every time they asked, they assumed she wasn't good at controlling her ability and didn't want them to rely on it.

Oliver wasn't so sure. If Chloe was psychic she probably would have given him a few more black eyes in the early part of their relationship if she'd been able to hear or see what he was thinking about doing with her.

"Hey Ollie," her words broke into his thoughts. "You're staring at me but clearly not hearing a word that I'm saying. What's up?"

He set down his bow and walked over to her, framing her face in his hands before kissing her deeply. "I love you."

"Ollie, I-" she started, but he kissed her again and pulled her off her feet into his arms.

"I love you too," she murmured into his ear softly, pressing kisses to his neck as he carried her to one of the small bedrooms.

CO-CO-CO

"_Many of us crucify ourselves between two thieves - regret for the past and fear of the future."_

_Fulton Oursler _

(August, 2010) Chloe knew Oliver wasn't satisfied with her answers to his questions about her past or what the connection was to his family, but he wasn't pushing. Somehow his quite dissatisfaction added more pressure to Chloe. She knew talking and arguing about it wouldn't be good for their relationship, but his silence scared her. She didn't know what he was thinking, but as the one intent on keeping secrets, she could hardly push him to open up about how he felt about her secrets.

Chloe was happy, and she thought Oliver was too, but she worried that keeping her secrets could cost her him in the future.

Ali stood with Oliver on the deck of Queen Manner, his arm was around her shoulders making her feel loved. Chloe stood with her mother not far away, deep in conversation. The deck was decorated with flowers and a theatrically long table that would seat the 30 guests, all good friends of her parents, invited to celebrate Laura's 56th birthday.

Laura took Chloe's hand and led her down the staircase that led to the private beach below their home. "Why don't you tell me what's bothering you Chloe?"

"I'm fine," Chloe insisted, not for the first time. Laura gave her a hard look and Chloe smiled. "It's your birthday, I don't want to…"

"Pish, nothing. It's my 56th birthday, while it's nice to celebrate with the people I love, I've had 55 other birthdays partially because of you, and I'll have many more. Besides, if you're subscribing to the birthday girl gets whatever she wants then you should answer my question."

Chloe hesitated, then nodded. "I'm worried about Oliver and how he's handling not knowing…"

"Is he pushing?" Laura questioned.

"No, and that's what's worrying me. I know he's frustrated with me, and I can even understand it, but, I just don't know what to tell him."

"And you're worried about losing him."

"Yes," Chloe said with a catch in her voice.

"You could always tell him the truth," Laura offered simply.

"How? We've only been together a few months. How is he supposed to handle hearing that I loved another version of him? That I can time travel? That the reason he has parents and a sister is because…"

"Because you loved him then and you love him now?" Laura offered helpfully. Chloe's expression tightened with tension and she turned away from Laura. "Chloe, I'm not making light of how you feel. I know it will be a difficult conversation, but I think your own conflicted feelings about what you did are coloring your view of how Oliver will react."

Chloe looked so sad, Laura hugged her. "My son loves you, Chloe. You will have to tell him the truth eventually, but I don't think you're in any danger of losing him."

From the upper deck, Ali looked down at her mother and Chloe. "What do you think they're so deep in conversation about?"

Oliver squeezed her shoulders. "I don't know."

Ali could hear the tension in his voice and looked up at him. "Ollie? Everything is fine with you and Chloe, right?"

"Everything is fine," he assured her.

"No it's not," Ali said intuitively, tugging on his arm so he would turn to face her instead of staring at Chloe and their mother. "Talk to me Ollie."

"Chloe is keeping things from me."

Ali was surprised he was sharing anything with her, their age difference made him as much a second father as a big brother, and Oliver had never been one to share his troubles with her. "Like, what kind of things?" Ali asked in confusion.

"Things about her past. Didn't you ever think it was odd how quickly Dad and Mom took an interest in Chloe?"

Ali frowned. "No, not really. Everyone likes Chloe."

Oliver smiled, but Ali could see that he wasn't really happy. "That's true. It's nothing to worry about Ali. It's frustrating to me, but I love her."

"So you're not breaking up," Ali demanded.

"No, absolutely not."

"Good. And Ollie, if Chloe is keeping secrets, don't you think that she must have a good reason?" Ali tilted her head and stared at him sternly. "For example, someone might keep a secret like an… extreme extracurricular activity from their loved ones." She was watching closely and saw the tiny reaction he couldn't control. She continued in a ponderous tone, "Why would someone do that? Well, I think maybe to keep their loved ones safe. Or, to make sure their sister didn't worry every night imagining what kind of trouble her brother might be getting into."

Oliver looked alarmed. "Ali…"

"What?" she asked, making her eyes deliberately wide. "I'm just speaking theoretically. And maybe, just maybe, you can understand that a person might have reasons, reasons that make sense to them, to keep secrets from the people they love and who love them back."

"Ali," Oliver said uncomfortably.

"Don't worry Ollie, I'm not going to tell Mom and Dad. But… does Chloe know?"

"Yeah."

"Good, I thought so. That's good, because if she didn't... And I'm not mad at you. I was a little hurt in the beginning, but I understand."

Oliver hugged her to his chest, stroking his hand down her long blonde hair. "You can't tell anyone Ali."

"I know," she said as she wrapped her arms around his waist comfortably. She tilted her face up to him and Oliver felt overwhelmed with love for his baby sister. She might not be a baby anymore, but to him she would always be the little girl with big eyes who looked at him like he was her personal hero. "So what's Hal do?" she asked curiously. "I bet he looks yummy in spandex. I know he looks good in his flight jumpsuit."

"Have I mentioned recently that it's not too late for you to become a nun?"

CO-CO-CO

"_Confession is always weakness. The grave soul keeps its own secrets,  
and takes its own punishment in silence." Dorothy Dix_

As Laura and Chloe returned to the party the last guest arrived and Robert asked everyone to find their seats. Chloe felt swamped by her unsettled emotions, seated between her mother and Oliver. She hadn't even known the Queens had invited her.

Moira had been making an effort to be in closer contact with Chloe since their visit a few months ago, and Chloe felt the guilt of knowing that her anger had wasted a year between her and her mother. She could have contacted Moira as soon as she'd come back from their past, but she'd stayed away. Chloe regretted it now.

As the main course was being served, Chloe took Oliver's hand under the table and squeezed it. "I love you Ollie."

His eyes drilled into her. "I know. I love you too. Nothing is going to change that Spitfire." Her lips turned up in a smile but there were shadows in her eyes. He leaned down to kiss her, and was tempted to deepen the kiss, but the sudden silence at the table brought him back to his senses.

He looked up to find every eye at the table focused on him and Chloe. She smiled, embarrassed but happy as well, and cupped her hand around his cheek to kiss him again quickly before grinning at their audience. "Happy birthday Laura," she offered, earning laughs.

"Yes indeed. To Laura," Robert toasted raising his glass.

Laura laughed, clinked her glass against her husband's then leaned over to kiss him, earning quiet laughs from her friends, and hoots from her children.

CO-CO-CO

Returning to Metropolis and her regular schedule, Chloe faced suspicious disappointment from someone other than Oliver.

Chloe was stretching her calves, alternating with jumping up and down a few times as she got ready for her weekly run with Clark. She'd gotten used to it, and with Oliver badgering her into doing yoga with him on a regular basis as well, it was no longer as painful as it had been at the beginning. "You're staring Clark," Chloe chided him.

"I know, sorry, it's just… you seem different."

Chloe froze, then forced herself to relax. "Different, how?"

"Just different. It's like you're not the same person. You seem more closed off, but happier too. I don't see you as much anymore."

"I think that's natural. I'm in a relationship now," Chloe said lightly. "And Oliver makes me happy."

"You've been in relationships before and you never pulled away from me," Clark said with a frown.

Chloe laughed lightly. "And maybe that's why none of those relationship worked."

"You're different," he said stubbornly. "You're keeping things from me."

"I'm me," she said simply.

"You but different," he insisted.

Chloe looked him square in the face. "Clark, I hardly think you're anyone to call me out on keeping secrets. Has something changed with me? Yes. Am I still me? Yes. Am I the person you knew a year ago, five years ago? No. People grow, they change." She held his eyes until he nodded. "Now, you drug me out of bed, so either we run or I'm going to go get a coffee."

* * *

CO-CO-CO

AN- The "Oliver get hurt storyline went longer than I intended, and the Queen's hijacked another plot point!

Words: 6444


	19. Ch19: Moving Mountains

_There seems to still be a little confusion over my "casting." Eric Bana is playing the part in my mind of Robert Queen. Kim Bassinger is Laura Queen. Ashley Bensen is Ali._

* * *

**Ch. 19: Moving Mountains**

(September, 2010) Chloe and Oliver were out to dinner one night, seated in the back of the restaurant for added privacy since the media had recently taken an interested in Chloe as Oliver's latest girlfriend.

Initially the media had reported the basics: Oliver Queen had a new girlfriend, she was a blonde college student from Metropolis. As their relationship went forward, the media only seemed to pay attention when they attended an event or were photographed holding hands, kissing, or doing some sort of other PDA.

Oliver was surprised Chloe had handled the spotlight in stride, and Chloe was surprised that Oliver was in Metropolis as much now as when Ali was there.

"What are your plans for next week? I need to be in Star City and I think between my mom and dad, I was asked to bring you with me about 50 times."

"Next week? What day are you leaving? I need to start looking at apartments. They're converting my whole building into condos and we need to find a new place in the next few months."

Oliver cocked his head in consideration. "I thought Lois and Clark were talking about moving in together."

"They are. Lois wants me to get a place right next to them," she said screwing up her face at the idea.

"I'm leaving on Wednesday, I'd have you back by Monday morning if you wanted. Or we could stay longer," he offered.

Chloe had continued her part time position at the DP for the summer and but they were hiring for a new editor and were delaying any decisions on the three junior reporter positions that were open to new graduates and other applicants until the new editor started. "We could stay an extra day at least, maybe come back late Monday night?"

"Sounds good."

They continued their meal, but Oliver was noticeably distracted.

After they left the restaurant their Chloe had to wait until they'd lost the paparazzi who trailed them for a few blocks badgering them for a good pose, before she could ask what was bothering him.

As they turned onto Oliver's block, Chloe tilted her head up to look at Oliver's face. "Is something wrong Ollie?"

"Huh? No, everything is good."

"Bad day at work?"

"No, why are you asking?"

"You're distracted."

"I'm just thinking about a new opportunity that just presented itself."

"OK," she drawled slowly.

They arrived at the Clock Tower, and Oliver led her into the private elevator. "You've been spending more of your time here since you graduated."

"Yeah. No classes to run to, only a part time job" she agreed. "If it's too much..." she offered hesitantly.

"No," he replied quickly. "The opposite actually." He gave her a thoughtful look and opened his mouth then closed it causing her to raise her eyebrows in speculation. He was clearly considering his words carefully. "We've been getting along, right?"

"Yeah. Except for my habit of leaving my shoes and jackets lying around and your habit of trying to drag me out of bed to do yoga in the morning," she said lightly.

"You get up early to run with Clark," he said pointedly.

"Once a week, and do I enjoy it?" she asked with a sour look.

"Exactly my point, you get up to run with him, which you clearly hate, so you should be willing to get up to do yoga with me, and I'd like to think I make it worth your while," he said teasingly, his eyes running down her body, pausing to linger on her breasts and curve of her hips.

She smiled deeply, having no difficulty remembering how most of their yoga sessions ended. If the poses of her with her chest stuck out or ass in the air didn't get him to reconsider his form of morning exercise, then the shared shower afterwards still made losing an hour of sleep worth it to Chloe.

They arrived at his loft and Oliver led her inside helping her off with her jacket and flinging it onto his desk with deliberate abandon. She laughed and let him pull her over to the couch where he sat down then positioned her in his lap facing him.

"If you have to move anyway, I think you should move in with me." He paused and smiled as she blinked at him blankly, "I'd like you to consider moving in with me."

When she continued to stare at him, he felt a bit of tension curl around his chest, but mostly he felt affection at her befuddled expression. "Chloe, blink once if you can hear the words coming out of my mouth."

She reached out a hand and rested it on his chest, feeling the strong, steady beat of his heart under her hand. "I can hear you, I'm just thinking..." She paused then took a deep breath. "Ollie, I hate that I feel like I need to ask this, but I do. Before I make any decisions about our relationship, I need to know what this is to you."

"I love you Chloe, you know that," he frowned.

She swallowed hard. "Right, but… don't be mad at me for asking, but… you've had a few… more than a few, long term, serious relationships. How is this, how are we any different?" Chloe asked in a faltering tone.

Oliver looked surprised by the question, but not angry. "You really don't know, do you?"

"Know what?" Chloe asked with a half laugh half sob.

He cupped his hands around her face, staring into her eyes so she could read the truth in his words. "None of those relationships were serious. They have may have lasted awhile, but they weren't serious. We're serious. You and me. I'm all in, Spitfire. I want you with me. Here, in Star City, wherever I am. This is it for me. Why do you think I'm in Metropolis so much?"

"Because of Ali, and your company, and me, I guess."

"If I was here for Ali, I would be here less than the first year, wouldn't I? Now that she's all settled in? But I'm here more. And why would I have been here all summer? I'm here for you. I love you, Chloe. I love you even though I know you haven't been completely honest to me. I love you and I'll keep saying it until it sinks in."

"Really?" Chloe asked with a smile, but there was still a frown between her eyebrows.

Oliver smiled and tilted her face up to press a kiss to her lips. "Really. So will you move in with me now?"

"Yes," Chloe said without any reservations, her emotions clear on her face.

"And maybe you have something to tell me too?" Oliver teased her. When Chloe frowned, Oliver shook his head with an amused smile. "Three little words?"

"How about five? I love you, Oliver Queen."

"I'll take your five and raise you two more. I'm going to marry you, Chloe Sullivan."

Her heart skipped a beat and she felt light headed but still managed to throw herself into his arms.

CO-CO-CO

(April, 2003) Mother's Day was approaching and Robert had an idea for a present for Laura in mind. She had a silk scarf from her mother, in a colorful vibrant print, that she loved, but the scarf was fraying at the edges, and Laura had stopped wearing it to preserve it.

Robert had commissioned an artisan textile maker to copy the print and color and make Laura several bolts of fabric in silk, linen and whatever else the textile maker recommended. Laura could then take the fabric to her dressmaker and have whatever she wanted made up.

It had been thirteen and a half years since Chloe had come back to find them and save them, 12 years since Ali had come into their lives. Their son had graduated with honors from Harvard and returned home to join the family business, and while Robert could only guess what the other Oliver might have been like, their Oliver was happy, kind, intelligent, and hard working.

Robert rummaged in his wife's drawers looking for the scarf so he could spirit it to the textile maker without her ever knowing it was gone, frowning as he tried the last drawer in her chest and worrying about the possibility of having to search her portion of the closet, Robert opened the last drawer with some effort and a prayer on his lips.

He pushed aside some sweaters to find the drawer was mostly full of copies of the Smallville Torch, Chloe's high school paper. Robert knelt down on the floor and lifted out a few copies. Laura had them in order and she had every copy since Chloe's first article was published her freshman year. He smiled at her latest headline _"Students Infected With Parasitic Worm Display Daredevil Behavior."_

Three years before, in 2000, Laura had stepped back from her surveillance of Chloe Sullivan. Robert's fears about influencing her life had finally resonated with Laura, and as Chloe found her footing in life, and Lionel had focused his attention away from Smallville, Laura had agreed to let her childhood shape itself. They still had a team that watched the Sullivan's, but they no longer got word about any of her adventures or exploits. The surveillance team was under strict guidelines about what circumstances to contact the Queens under. The rest was filed away.

But it appeared that Laura had not been able to give up her interest in Chloe completely, and had been following the girl's maturation in the black and white of Chloe's own words.

A set of newspapers was off to the side of the drawer, tied with a green ribbon. Robert carefully placed the copies he'd removed back in order and pulled out the bundled papers. Spreading them around him on the floor, he saw Lionel's history told through the words of a child who was the root of Lionel's downfall.

_"Lionel Luthor Found Guilty of Corporate Espionage"_

Lionel had received a six month jail sentence, and had paid a huge fine. It was hardly enough, but it was something. From what Chloe had said, LuthorCorp was as large or larger than QI in her time, it wasn't here. Robert had seen to that.

_"Lillian Luthor Files for Divorce"_

Lillian Luthor had fled from her marriage in 1994 with her newborn child, but in the intervening years had not filed for divorce. She had divorce papers delivered to Lionel on his first day in prison for the espionage charge.

_"Queen Industries Satellite Provides First Pictures of Planet Outside Our Solar System"_

Robert smiled and put the papers back, covering them with the sweaters. He'd let Laura have her secret. But he still needed to find the scarf and groaned at the thought of having to look through every hanger and cubby in her expansive closet.

CO-CO-CO

(October, 2012) The press became a lot more interested in Chloe after she moved in with Oliver in the Clock Tower. She hoped rather than believed that the attention would die down, but she knew that Oliver was news, and given that he'd never lived with a woman before, she was now elevated out of the group of long term girlfriends.

Chloe tried to take it in stride, but she admitted to herself that she had moments of insecurity about it. She felt like she always had to be "on" when she was out and about. Flattering outfit, shiny hair, perfect makeup.

Then one day, she had been feeling tired and run down, with a runny nose to boot. She'd left the privacy of the loft to go to a pharmacy, and been photographed. Thankfully she didn't look to bad, but she was wearing an old, fugly sweater of her father's. He'd worn it frequently in her early childhood, and she'd taken it rather than thrown it out when they cleaned out his closet a few years earlier.

A week later Chloe was unhappy with the picture in the tabloids, but Ali had written a Facebook post about how it was Chloe's father's sweater, and a new trend was born. Several models and actresses were photographed out and about wearing old, oversized, fugly sweaters, and Chloe was credited with starting the trend of "Nostalgia clothing."

She thought it was ridiculous, but also felt the pressure she'd been putting on her own shoulders ease. If the fashion press was going to be forgiving of that, then she definitely felt more able to relax and dress down a bit more when the situation allowed for it.

Over the next few months, Chloe was photographed and held up as what young professional women should look like at work (pencil skirts and blouses) and at play (dresses that showed just the right amount of skin for dates and jeans and layered tops for weekends). In many of the pictures Ali or Oliver (or both) were right alongside her, so Chloe felt like the focus wasn't really on her, and brushed off the sustained attention.

The teasing she received at work, now that she was a full time cub reporter at the Daily Planet, was another annoyance, but Chloe couldn't complain. She had her dream job, and her dream guy.

CO-CO-CO

"_There are only patterns, patterns on top of patterns, patterns that affect other patterns. Patterns hidden by patterns. Patterns within patterns. If you watch close, history does nothing but repeat itself. What we call chaos is just patterns we haven't recognized. What we call random is just patterns we can't decipher."_

(November, 2010) "Damn it, why now?" Chloe muttered to herself as she hurried into her favorite coffee shop, then down the hallway that lead to the bathrooms and straight out the backdoor which let out into an alley.

She looked around the alley quickly then set off, making her way to the Planet. The problem with evading someone following her, was that like most people, Chloe had a fairly predictable schedule.

Working full time as a journalist meant there was always some flexibility in her day, but as a rule she left home between 7:45 and 8 in the morning, then arrived at the Planet five to ten minutes later, depending on if she stopped to get a cup of coffee along the way. She usually stayed at the paper in the morning, then picked up another coffee before heading out to track down leads. If she wasn't on a hot story, she usually had lunch with Lois and/or Clark or other coworkers, returned to the office in the afternoon to complete her write up, then she returned home between 5 and 6 for dinner with Ollie.

From there her schedule got more erratic with evenings varying between walking to Watchtower alone, going out with Ollie on a date, or sneaking through the underground tunnels to Watchtower with Ollie, or hanging out with Ali, or staying in.

But on any given day if you were determined you could probably reliably find Chloe at her set times and locations. The paparazzi had been following her, but now, she had a bigger problem.

Davis had emerged from the woodwork. There had been some isolated killings, and Chloe knew instinctively were his kills, from the level of mutilation of the bodies. It was happening again.

She knew she'd met Davis in this life, but even without Lex tracking down the black ship, Brainiac had still been here - it was his virus that had caused Dark Thursday, even if this world's Chloe and Clark didn't know about him. What was clear was that Chloe had never been infected by Brainiac here, but _she_ was. Chloe was only here because she had a bit of Brainiac left in her. It was he who allowed her to time travel. But it was also that bit of him that seemed to attract Davis like a moth to a flame.

For the last week, Chloe had felt eyes watching her. For the last two days, she'd suspected it was Davis. But this was her first confirmation. She'd seen him.

Chloe was an optimist in most things. But when it came to Davis, as bad as it made her feel, she couldn't imagine a positive outcome. She didn't want to deal with Davis, or Doomsday, or his crazy killer parents. She just wanted to be happy, working as a journalist, living with Oliver, and being in love with her life. But sometimes you don't get to choose.

Finishing up the edits from her supervisor to her most recent stories, Chloe went up onto the DP roof to think. At least she knew Davis couldn't follow her there.

On the roof, Chloe looked over to where she could see Oliver's building. Just knowing he was close was a comfort.

She wasn't sure how to deal with Davis. In this life she had no proof of the danger he posed. If she went to Oliver and the team for help, she'd inevitably end up explaining how she knew what she knew. And even then, how would they kill Davis? He couldn't die.

Chloe slammed her hand on the edge of the roof in anger. If Hal was around she could go to him, convince him of the danger, and with his Lantern Rings and the knowledge of the other Lanterns they might be able to stop Davis. But Hal was off world and incommunicado. It made Chloe angry, but then she felt guilty. Earth wasn't the only planet in Hal's quadrant of the galaxy.

Chloe considered her options but kept coming back to Clark and the Phantom Zone. It was the best option in Chloe's opinion. She didn't want to kill Davis if she didn't have to, even if she did know how. Even after everything- watching him attack her friends as a monster, then kill Jimmy as a human, she didn't want vengeance. She just wanted him gone.

No human stood a chance against Davis. Oliver. Ali. Lois. Her father. Chloe wouldn't risk them.

Her phone rang, startling her from her dark thoughts. "Hello," she answered without looking at the display.

"Hello beautiful, you look very serious. Problem?" Oliver's deep voice sounded in her ear and she felt the comfort of his nearness fill her.

Her eyes looked across to his office, but she couldn't see him for the glare on the windows. "Are you spying on me?"

"Every chance I get, but I like to call this particular moment, 'enjoying the view.'"

"Hmm. My boyfriend claims that the view is even better close up," she flirted.

"Smart guy."

She laughed. "Of course you manage to turn that into a compliment for you."

"Uh-oh, I heard from Ali that you only like humble men, I should work on that."

"You should, your pride borders on arrogance with regularity."

"Vanity is a weakness indeed. But pride, where there is a real superiority of mind, pride will always be under good regulation."

"Oh my God, did you just quote Mr. Darcy to me?"

"I did, I'm hoping I can tempt you into joining me for lunch today."

"With actual food or..."

"I'm sure we can work that out," he said deeply.

CO-CO-CO

Clark and Chloe had been trying to mend their friendship since both had acknowledged the distance growing between them. Chloe was different, there was no avoiding that. And she didn't have the same relationship with Clark that the Chloe who had grown up in this reality had built.

But Chloe suspected the real issue was Chloe's closeness with Oliver and the team. Clark was no longer her first choice or her only choice for help. Clark didn't approve of Chloe getting more involved in hero business, but this world was so much less dangerous than the one she'd left that Chloe didn't even bother to pay lip service to Clark's concerns.

But now she needed to ask him a favor, and she knew she might have to come clean about why she was different, and how she knew Davis was a threat.

At least with Clark and Oliver not being friends in this reality, Chloe didn't have to worry about Clark spilling her secret to Oliver. Besides she'd kept his secret for years, even from her own cousin, if he couldn't return her that bit of loyalty then there were bigger problems in their friendship than Chloe knew how to repair.

Chloe asked Clark to meet her after work, and he agreed, but looked at her skeptically.

CO-CO-CO

They met in the basement parking garage of Oliver's building. "OK, Chloe, I'm here, what's going on?"

"Have you ever heard of Brainiac?"

"What-iac?"

"Brainiac, the Brain Interactive Construct. It's an artificial intelligence from Krypton, created by your father that can take a humanoid form."

Clark grew very still. "No."

"I didn't think so. But you do know about Zod and Faora, right?"

"Yes. Chloe, you'd better tell me what's going on," Clark demanded with a pinched expression.

"I'm getting there, but you're not likely to believe me, so I think we should go to your fortress so Jor-El can confirm what I'm telling you."

Clark looked at the jacket dangling from Chloe's hand, a thick parka, suitable for sub zero temperatures. She followed his gaze. "I have ski pants too, I do not want to risk hypothermia again."

"You've never been to the Fortress before," Clark said with a leery stillness.

Chloe also grew very still. "No, of course not, but I know it's cold there." She busied herself pulling on her warm garments, avoiding Clark's stare. He knew she was lying but he couldn't believe Chloe had been to the Fortress without him. Why and how and when would it have happened?

CO-CO-CO

At the Fortress, Chloe tried to line up her thoughts logically. She wanted Jor-El to confirm the truth about Brianiac then hopefully Clark would believe the rest.

"Jor-El," Clark yelled. "I need some information."

"I am here for you my son," the voice from the crystals responded. "Why have you brought this Earth child with you? She has an infection."

Clark looked at Chloe with alarm. "I'm fine, I promise," she tried to reassure him. "Nice to meet you too, Jor-El," Chloe sassed. "Why don't you tell Clark about how you built Brainiac then lost control of your creation when he swore allegiance to Zod and helped that monster destroy your world."

"I did not create Brainiac. Dax-Ur did. I merely translated his idea into reality."

"Yeah, whatever. Clark, Brainiac hates the House of El because Zod did. Brainiac was the one that caused Dark Thursday."

"No, Zod caused Dark Thursday, you know that Chloe," Clark looked confused.

"Your friend is correct Kal-El. Zod did not have the capability to cause that kind of technological disaster on your world. Brainiac fled Krypton as it died and is here on Earth. Your friend is proof of that."

"What do you mean?" Clark asked.

"She is infected. I sense some of him inside of her."

Clark looked at Chloe with wide fearful eyes. "That's true, but I promise you, I am fine," Chloe repeated.

"How do I heal her?" Clark ignored Chloe.

"There is no cure that would not damage her frail body. Her mind would not fare well either."

"There must be something!" Clark argued.

"I am sorry my son, some things are not within my power."

"Clark you can obsess about my infection later, right now, there is a more pressing issue." She lifted her face to the towering white crystals that formed the Fortress. "Jor-El, what is Doomsday?"

"Doomsday is a creature, the manufactured offspring of Zod and his wife, created with their genetic material and the material of the most fearsome creatures on Krypton."

"Doomsday is on Earth," Chloe asserted.

"I have no knowledge of that," Jor-El stated.

"He is here, and he has been since Clark arrived."

"All the portals on Krypton were shut down, millions perished, it is not possible."

"Clark's here, Brainiac is here, don't you think your ideas of what is possible are a bit limited?" Chloe argued. "Doomsday came to Earth with Clark on his ship. He is highly adaptable. He took the appearance of a human child. He's grown up thinking he is human, but the presence of the bit of Brainiac that is in me has woken the monster within him."

"How do you know this?" Clark asked with narrowed eyes.

Chloe ignored his question. "Jor-El, what was Doomsday created to do?"

"Destroy worlds, destory the House of El."

"What do you recommend we do?" she continued, ignoring Clark's mistrustful gaze.

"You must destroy him if you want to save this world," Jor-El stated dispassionately.

"How do we kill him?" Chloe asked.

"I won't kill him, killing is always wrong," Clark argued.

"You cannot kill him, he was designed to mutate, to adapt, anything you do to hurt him will only make him stronger."

Chloe turned to face Clark resolutely. "That leaves the Phantom Zone."

Clark stared at her realizing that she had already known the answers to all her questions, and had been leading him to this conclusion the whole time.

CO-CO-CO

Back in Metropolis the argument between Chloe and Clark continued. "I won't kill him."

"I'm not asking you to, I don't even know if you could. I'm asking you to get a dangerous alien predator off our planet. I'm asking you to protect this planet, the people you love, from a killing machine."

"You don't know that for sure."

"I do, I know. I can give you the proof, but it won't make a difference will it," Chloe started to lose control of her emotions. Davis, Doomsday had torn her life apart. Clark's refusal to do what needed to be done, again, was too much.

"You never listen to anyone but yourself. I accuse Oliver of being arrogant, but you really take the cake Clark. He's a killer, he was made to kill, he's started killing again, and _nothing_ will stop him. There is nothing to do, no choice. You either send him to the Phantom Zone, or you let him keep killing. You let him come for me. You risk Lois and Oliver and everyone we know and care about." She could see that her tears and emotions were having zero impact on him. "But you don't care, because you can't imagine a circumstance where you might be wrong."

"How do you know about Doomsday, Chloe? When were you at the Fortress? You want me to trust you, to send a man who should have been my brother to the worst place I know for an eternity, but you won't even tell me how you know he exists."

"I have been to the Fortress, just not in this life." She smiled sadly. "I shouldn't tell you, it won't change anything. It won't change your mind. But, by all means, if the infallible Clark Kent wants the truth, who am I to stand in his way? I should tell you the truth. That's what people who love each other do, _right_?" Clark had the grace to look down, and Chloe felt the sting of her own words.

Clark wasn't the only one lying to his loved ones. Clark lied to Lois, and Chloe lied to Oliver. Oliver knew about Clark, and Lois knew about Chloe. So many secrets and half truths stood between all of them. "That's why you told me about you, why you told Lana, why Lois knows who it is she's really dating? Because you're so honest and upright."

"Chloe..."

"No, you want to know? Fine. I am infected by Brainiac. He attacked me, but my meteor ability protected me."

"Your healing ability?" Clark asked confirming what Chloe had suspected, that she had had her ability in this reality.

"That's the one. I don't have it anymore, by the way, I think protecting me from him burned it out. Regardless, I have a bit of Brainiac in me, and he still exists, in the future. He has the ability to travel through time." Clark blanched. "And so do I."

"What?"

"You said I was different. I am. I am not the Chloe you grew up with. I come from a different time, or place, or whatever."

"How?"

"I went back in time to change things, I created a new world, a better world. I'd say trust me, but it's clear you don't."

"I do, you know I do."

"Trust isn't a word Clark, it's an action, it's a million choices." She took a deep breath and ignored Clark's wounded look. "In my reality, you became aware of Brainiac your first semester of college. He caused Black Thursday, a fact you knew, and you destroyed him, or thought you did. He came back, and I got caught in the crossfire."

"Chloe..." he looked regretful.

"Lots of things happened that I won't get into. I got married Clark." He stepped back in shock. "And Doomsday attacked my wedding reception. He almost killed my husband, and kidnapped me. He took me to the Fortress, but I'd been there before too." Clark looked increasingly confused. "He recognizes Brainiac in me, there's some link between them. He ended up killing my husband, nearly killing Oliver and his team and you. You refused to send him to the Phantom Zone, you refused then just like you are now. And Davis, Doomsday, killed hundreds of people, he destroyed whole blocks of the city fighting with you, and still you wanted to save him."

"I can't kill someone Chloe," Clark said softly.

"No, you can't. But you also won't send him to the Phantom Zone. So basically you're refusing to act. This is a Kryptonian threat, created on your world, sent here to destroy this one. I won't allow that."

"Chloe, I'll take care of it, I'll find a way."

"You split him before, separated the man from the monster. It was the man who killed my husband right before my eyes Clark. There is no one to save, no one worth saving, there is only a monster to be slain."

"I'll find a way. He deserves a chance. I owe him a chance," Clark said, disregarding everything Chloe had said for his own beliefs, then disappeared in a puff of wind.

"I tried your way once before Clark, I won't do it again."

CO-CO-CO

Chloe hated lying to Oliver, she hated keeping the truth about herself from him, but she still feared his reaction to telling him about time travel. She didn't want to add another secret to her burden, and she wanted Oliver's help. The team's help, if it came down to it.

Chloe had an idea, but she wanted another opinion. Her fight with Clark had left her hurt and confused, and lacking her normal confidence.

She stepped off the elevator into his loft, their home, and was disappointed that he wasn't already there. Making up her mind, she sent him a text. 'Ollie, can you come home, I need to talk to you.'

In his office, Oliver stood up immediately after reading her words and glancing at the clock, realized he'd worked later than he'd intended. His father was putting more and more of the day to day management he did onto Oliver's shoulders, and soon Oliver would have to give up some of the projects he kept ownership over to make room in his day. Somehow his father had managed to balance running a multinational company with his family, and Oliver would too.

Oliver took the stairs two at a time and arrived in the loft, expecting to find Chloe waiting. She appeared a moment later from their bedroom, wearing comfortable workout clothes. His eyes checked her for injuries, and finding none, he refocused on her face.

She looked sad, like she'd been crying. She smiled at him, but it was a pathetic attempt and left him worried. Oliver moved to her and folded her into his arms. She rested against him, her arms tight around his waist, clutching at his shirt under his blazer.

"Hey Spitfire," he said softly, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "I'm not sure you're aware of this but, ah, the last thing a guy wants to hear from his girl is 'we need to talk.'"

She laughed, but only for a second, then she took a deep breath, obviously fortifying herself for what was to come. When she tilted her face up to his, he laid his finger over her lips, stalling her for a moment. Scooping her up into his arms, he walked her into their bedroom and laid her on the soft mattress. Pulling off his jacket and toeing off his shoes he joined her, positioning their bodies so he could see her face.

"Whatever it is, Chloe, it will be OK."

She smiled softly. "When I look at you, I believe that."

"Then keep looking at me," he commanded and took her hand in his.

She took another calming breath and squeezed his hand tight. "We have a problem. A supernatural, alien killer, kind of problem."

Oliver took a moment, then replied calmly. "Alien like Clark?"

"Worse. Stronger than Clark, this thing was made to kill. To destroy our world. As annoying as Clark's feeling of moral superiority is, it keeps him in check. This... alien, doesn't have that. He grew up in foster care, and he's made a good life for himself, but his alien heritage and programming is in charge now, and he won't stop."

"Then we'll stop him," Oliver said resolutely. "Why do I get a feeling Clark isn't on the same page as you on this?"

"Clark wants to save him, but it won't work." She closed her eyes and then looked at him, her expression begging for understanding and forgiveness. "You know that I know things I shouldn't. You know I've been keeping something from you, but right now I need you to believe me. Believe me and don't ask me to tell you how I know what I know." Her eyes filled with tears but she refused to let them fall. "Please."

Oliver brushed his thumbs over her eyelids, collecting the moisture from them. He smiled slightly as her eyes opened again, hope returning to her expression. "That's the first time you've openly admitted it."

"I'm sorry."

"I want you to trust me Chloe," he said gently.

"I do. If I didn't, I wouldn't be here telling you this now."

He nodded and leaned forward to kiss her lightly. "And here I thought you needed my help."

She smiled through her emotions and bit her lip. "I more want you to help with the plan, it's AC's skills that I'm going to need."

CO-CO-CO

The team were all on board with the plan after Chloe offered them enough proof with a combination of Davis/Doomsday's recent murders to Clark's alien father's words. Just to be sure Chloe and Oliver had Bart follow Davis and get video of him as the alien monster version of himself.

"Way scary dudes," Bart reported back to the team emphatically. "Way worse that Bat-breath."

CO-CO-CO

Standing at Reeves Dam, AC turned to Chloe. "Clark's really an alien?"

"You find that hard to believe? You're the prince of Atlantis, and the object of a royal aquatic blood feud," Chloe replied with an amused glint in her eyes.

"Fair point," AC conceded with a grin. "I kinda like you knowing my secrets."

"AC," she began with regret thick in her voice.

"You don't have to share Chlo. This isn't grade school where you have to show me yours if I've shown you mine," he teased. "Just remember what I said, it's nice to have someone know your secrets. Makes me feel not as alone."

"There are a few people who know."

"Lois," he said matter-of-factly. "I can't imagine her letting anyone keep any secrets."

Chloe laughed at the absurdity of it all. AC gave her a little salute then did an impressive backwards dive off the dam into the lake below to find Kara's ship and free her from stasis.

Chloe's plan was fairly basic. If the Kryptonian you know won't play ball, find one who will.

CO-CO-CO

Kara was in shock. Chloe tried to be gentle, tried to fill in the blanks for her. Her planet had been destroyed. Her ship had crashed and she'd been held in limbo for nearly 20 years. Her baby cousin, who she had come to keep an eye on, was as old as she was, and the man who had destroyed her planet had sent his son to this one, to do the same. Chloe left out any mention of Kara's father having less than honorable intentions.

Kara was confused, and Chloe couldn't blame her. Bart's constant flirting wasn't helping either. "You're really going to like it here. We have great food. Have you been to Mexico? I'll show you my favorite taco stands."

"Bart, you can tell her about food later, for now, be quiet," Oliver commanded.

"Would it help to hear it from Jor -El himself?" Chloe offered.

"My uncle is here?"

"No, but his consciousness is programmed into a crystal," Chloe said with a frown. Oliver, Victor and AC shared a WTF look at that statement.

Kara shook her head. "I have no reason to doubt you. You rescued me. I am in your debt. And I will know if this thing is Kryptonian, as you say."

Chloe breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you. When you open the portal, you have to be careful. It could pull you in as well."

"I heard stories of the Phantom Zone growing up, I will heed your words."

Chloe didn't know what had happened to the Kara she shared a power with, but she wasn't going to sacrifice this Kara to the Phantom Zone, no matter what their past conflict.

Kara looked lost and alone. "Kara, you aren't alone here. Clark will welcome you, and so will we," Chloe promised.

"Anything you need, you have only to ask," Oliver added his word to Chloe's.

Kara smiled in thanks and looked around as the other three me, Victor, AC and the one who kept looking at her chest, nodded too.

CO-CO-CO

Chloe and Oliver stood on the deck of the Clock Tower loft, looking out over the city. Oliver had his arms wrapped tightly around Chloe. Her hands were wrapped around his arms, keeping him tight against her.

Davis had gone without too much of a fight. He didn't know anything about the Phantom Zone, nor had he suspected Kara could hurt him when she'd approached. He'd been transported off their planet and away from everyone Chloe loved. She couldn't regret it, even with faced with Clark's cold anger and disappointment. She'd hoped he would at least appreciate having his cousin, but Clark wasn't pleased that Kara had gone along with Chloe's plan either.

"So I know you were looking forward to Thanksgiving dinner with your dad, but I've tasted your cooking Spitfire, and that nickname is scarily accurate."

"Hey, I make a kickass lasagna."

"And a stellar cup of coffee, and a passable piece of toast, but after that…" he teased, earning a sour look. "I'm just not sure you cooking a holiday meal is in your best interest."

"I assume you have an alternate suggestion?" she said archly.

"I do. My mom has already asked Gabe to join us for our thanksgiving meal. And if you think he'll be OK with it, we'll ask your mother too. Actually… my mom will probably do that regardless and convince you and Gabe it was your idea to begin with," Oliver said ruefully.

"You want to spend the holiday together?" she said with a soft smile.

"Holidays. Plural. As in all of them. And after seeing what Doomsday could have done, I don't want you out of my sight. Has anyone ever told you that you are a trouble magnet?"

"My dad," Chloe said softly. "Clark. His parents. My uncle. My high school principal. Lana… pretty much anyone I've ever known."

CO-CO-CO

* * *

AN-This chapter came really fast.

Words 6704


	20. Ch20: Slaying Dragons

In the last chapter, I never considered having Chloe go back to undo telling Clark, I'm not sure why. I know I'm having Chloe be very cautious about any more trips to the past. She's achieved the world she wants, and doesn't want any unforeseen results to change the reality she has now. My other idea for dealing with Davis was to have Chloe go back to when Clark was having his rumspringa as Kal-El, but I decided to bring Kara back into the story instead (not that she's in this chapter).

* * *

**Ch. 20: Slaying the Dragons that occupy our Minds**

_"Obstacles are like wild animals. They are cowards but they will bluff you if they can. If they see you are afraid of them... they are liable to spring upon you; but if you look them squarely in the eye,  
they will slink out of sight." Orison Swett Marden_

(January, 2011) "Ollie I want to go to Lionel Luthor's funeral," Ali said calmly, but Oliver's reaction was anything but calm.

"Absolutely not," he denied, his eyes fierce. At 67 years old, Lionel Luthor had finally died, ridding the world of his evil. He had spent the last eight years of his life in prison for kidnapping Laura and Ali in 2002.

"I'm 20 years old Ollie, I don't need your permission."

He glared at her with fear and tension clearly visible on his face. "You're 19."

"Almost 20."

"Actually you're pretty much exactly in the middle. You're 19," he said lightly trying to divert the conversation to lighter subjects.

"Nineteen and an adult. Will you come with me?"

"Why do you want to go, Ali? Why would you want to go anywhere near that man, in life or death?"

"I don't have to explain myself to you, I want to go to his funeral. Now, are you going to come with me or not?"

"Not, and you're not going either."

She smiled sadly, and his heart clenched. "I love you Oliver, but I stopped taking orders from you a long time ago," she said softly before exiting his office.

"Not so long ago," Oliver said in bewilderment.

Ali had changed a lot in the last year and a half, finally coming into her own. She'd stopped getting in her own way. She'd made new friends, gotten good grades in her first three semesters of college, made a life for herself away from her family. She'd fallen for a boy, had her first boyfriend, and discovered that first loves aren't always the stuff of legends. Oliver wasn't sad to see Mike go, he knew his baby sister deserved better, but he'd hated seeing her heartbreak when Mike hadn't lived up to her expectations.

She was beautiful, and carried herself with the confidence that said that she knew it. She was smart, but she also knew her own strengths and weaknesses. She didn't care for math, or law or economics, and wanted no part in the day to day running of their father's company. She'd learned to trust herself, and her instincts. She had good friends now, people she trusted and relied on.

But every couple of times that Oliver saw her, she said or did something, looked a particular way, that reminded him that she was still the traumatized little girl that had been kidnapped and held for six weeks by a madman. She rarely talked about it. Their parents had forced her to get therapy, but after she'd broken down in tears and told him what had happened while they'd been held, she'd never spoken of it again to him. She'd only been eleven years old when it happened, and she'd spent the last nine years learning to live with it.

Oliver didn't want her anywhere near any Luthor, living or dead.

CO-CO-CO

A text message from Ali brought Chloe to Ali's off campus apartment. Ali opened the door with red eyes but a dry face and resolute expression. "Ali, what's wrong?"

"I had a disagreement with Oliver."

Chloe gave her a sympathetic look, but felt her alarm lessen dramatically. "It's Oliver, you'll get over it, he'll get over it."

"I know, that's not why I asked you to come over. I want your help," Ali said, looking very young.

"With what?" Chloe asked cautiously. She'd been careful not to get in between the siblings during the last year, especially once her relationship with Oliver got more serious. While the Queen siblings had a habit of joining forces against Chloe, Chloe only ganged up with one against the other on non-serious matters, leaving them to sort out their differences on their own. She'd talk to each of them, trying to explain the other's viewpoint on areas of contention, but she didn't take sides. Luckily they loved each other and usually got along.

"I want you to go with me somewhere."

The lack of details from Ali was starting to ramp back up Chloe's alarm. "Where?"

"To Lionel Luthor's funeral," Ali said plainly.

Chloe recoiled, but forced herself to react reasonably. Clearly, Oliver hadn't. "Why?"

"I need to. I need to face him, even if... I need to see that he's really gone. He's my boogie man. But he was real," Ali said in a rush.

"And now he's dead, and you need to see it for yourself," Chloe said, understanding Ali's need to see the last act of an evil man.

"I built him up to be some kind of monster in my mind, and as much as I've tried, I've never gotten over being scared of him. He shattered my childhood, my sense of security in the world, but I've never met the man face to face, and now I never will." Ali swallowed hard, her emotions clearly getting the best of her. "But I don't want to go alone. I'm not that brave."

Chloe hugged Ali, holding her tight. "Knowing when to ask for help and support isn't weak Ali, it's the bravest thing any of us can do."

CO-CO-CO

Chloe went to LuthorCorp not holding out much hope of succeeding in her mission. "Chloe Sullivan, here to see Lex Luthor, please."

The receptionist, a sleek brunette, looked up at Chloe coolly. "Do you have an appointment?"

Chloe smiled, thinking that some things never changed. "No, I don't, and I understand that this is a sensitive time for him, but if you could please let him know that I'm here and I wish to see him." Chloe smiled winningly. "If he says no, I'll leave."

The receptionist looked unsure, but made the call to Lex's private secretary regardless. A brief conversation ensued and at the end Chloe was told to take a seat. A minute later a dark suited security officer approached her. "Ms. Sullivan? I'll escort you upstairs."

Chloe was nervous approaching Lex's office. To her, that office would always be Lionel's. Even after Lex had killed Lionel in her past, he'd never taken over his father's office. But this Lex had.

The guard knocked on the door and pushed it open when he heard Lex bid them enter.

The door closed behind her, and Chloe suddenly felt awkward. She smiled at Lex, the man who had been her friend, her partner, her enemy and in at least one life, her love. Chloe looked around the room for a moment, taking in the changes he'd made there. Finally she met his curious eyes. "I'm sorry for your loss," she said automatically.

"Are you?" Lex asked, coming around his desk and waving her further into the room.

"Yes. Even if he was a monster, he was still your father, and you loved him." Lex nodded minutely, and offered her a drink which Chloe declined. "I'm sorry to intrude, I know you must have a million things to be doing right now."

"Did you come for an interview?"

"No," she said shortly. "Ali Queen would like to attend your father's funeral. I thought that... I thought that it might be better if she attended the burial instead of the-"

"Ceremony?" Lex offered helpfully with a strong hint of sarcasm. "You think the child that my father traumatized to find acquire another piece to a made up legend doesn't need to hear a bunch of people pay lip service to what a great man he was? I can't imagine why."

"I…" Chloe wasn't sure what to say. Lex would be expecting her to follow up on the mention of Lionel's motive for taking the Queens, a fact that had not come to light during the trial.

"It's hard to know what to say when you don't know what I know, isn't it, Chloe?" Chloe opened her mouth then closed it again. "I see. I'll begin. I know about Veritas and the traveler from another world that my father wanted to find so desperately. I know that Senator Kent's son is our city's longstanding hero." Chloe looked shocked and Lex smiled. "I've known for awhile, and I also know that Clark Kent is not the only hero you maintain a close relationship with."

She stared at him, unsure of her footing. Chloe tried to read his face for what he intended to do with his knowledge. "Though you are not so close with Kent as before, are you? Your weekly runs just resumed last week."

"And?" Chloe asked, not wanting to confirm anything.

"And?"

"And you're watching. What do you plan to do?"

"And nothing. The Blur, horrible name, and the Green Arrow, only marginally better, do a fine service to Metropolis." Lex paused to study Chloe, who had regained her cool. "Ali Queen is welcome to attend the funeral and the burial as she wishes. I may not be able to make up for what my father did in his life, but if it helps her, then she is welcome. I can't guarantee that the media won't have a field day with it, but I'll do what I can to limit their access to the cemetery."

"Ali would like me to attend with her, or her brother if he comes around."

"That's acceptable," Lex agreed.

Chloe nodded slowly. "Thank you."

She turned to leave but Lex called her back. "You may not have come for an interview, but I'd be willing to give it to you anyway." Chloe looked startled. "I need to give an interview about how I feel about his death so people will stop asking, and LuthorCorp employees and stockholders need to know that the company is as solid as before. It might as well be with you, Ms. Sullivan. At least with you there is the possibility that you'll write a truthful story instead of trying to sensationalize either my father or my 'grief.'"

CO-CO-CO

_"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear." Nelson Mandela_

Chloe and Ali were both wearing black. Black coats over black dresses and boots, as they stood in a snowy cemetery. The grass around Lionel Luthor's burial site was too bright, artificially green from chemical treatments that kept it green even in the dead of winter. The rest of the cemetery was coated in a layer of crisp white snow. The air was almost unnaturally still, as if nature itself was holding its breath until Lionel Luthor was disappeared into the ground forever.

Their leather gloved hands were clasped tightly, Ali pressed against Chloe's side as the preacher read some words from a Bible, words that Lionel didn't believe or act on in life but were somehow deemed appropriate. _"All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him."_

On Chloe's other side stood Lex, with his brother Julian beside him. Lillian had opted not to come. The only other mourners were Lionel's long time secretary, a red haired woman that Lex acknowledged with a stiff nod and some of Lionel's household staff.

Lex's security formed a shield around the site, keeping any members of the press or other interested people out of the cemetery. Ali's security formed a closer barrier, standing between Lex's security and the girls.

A dull whirr sounded from overhead, and Chloe glanced up to see that it was a news helicopter, circling and no doubt filming the burial.

_"For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted…" _

Lex looked stoic, and Julian a bit bored, a bit sad, and a touch bitter. A young man, about to turn 18 years old, he was as tall as Lex, with brown hair, and a thin frame. He didn't resemble Lex at all. Chloe couldn't blame Julian for being bitter for a father he had barely known. The absence of Lionel from his life was a blessing, but he might not see it that way.

CO-CO-CO

A half hour earlier, Lex and Julian had greeted Chloe and Ali as they arrived at the cemetery. Lex had greeted Chloe with a handshake, Julian trailing behind him. "Ms. Sullivan. Ms. Queen. Allow me to introduce my brother, Julian."

Ali murmured something that passed for a greeting, as Chloe released one of her megawatt smiles at Julian. "Nice to meet you," she said, shaking his hand, despite, some strain showing around the edges of her smile. He looked just like Grant Gabriel, only younger and with longer hair.

"You as well," he replied politely.

Ali managed to pull herself together, "I'm sorry for your loss."

Lex nodded to acknowledge the sentiment, then excused himself to confer with his security team. "I barely knew the man, I'm here for Lex," Julian said flatly.

Ali blinked at that information, undoubtedly unable to emphasize with such a strained relationship between a father and child. Even if the father was Lionel Luthor.

"Lex must appreciate your being here," Chloe inserted into the awkward silence that followed.

"I don't know," Julian looked down at his feet, fidgeting. "Lex doesn't say much."

Ali smiled tightly. "That might be a blessing. There are times when I think my brother will never shut up."

They all laughed, then sobered quickly as the situation came back into focus as Lionel's coffin was positioned in place over his burial site.

"I heard that you're attending Metropolis University," Julian said to Ali.

"Yeah," she confirmed, her eyes on the casket.

"I applied for next year," he continued his eyes on his brother's sleek cultivated form. "Lex hasn't been around much since Lionel went to jail. I think if I'm here…"

"I'm sure he'll like that," Chloe said supportively.

"I'll get to see him more anyway," Julian said uncertainly. "Maybe get to know him better."

Lex returned to them. "We can get started." He clasped his hand around his brother's shoulder and Julian looked up at his brother with a longing that made Chloe's eyes fill with tears. The corresponding look of affection from Lex had her turning away to brush back her tears discreetly, since no doubt neither man nor boy would appreciate her noticing their emotional display.

CO-CO-CO

_"There are many types of monsters that scare me: Monsters who cause trouble without showing themselves, monsters who abduct children, monsters who devour dreams... and then, monsters who tell nothing but lies. Lying monsters are a real nuisance: They are much more cunning than others. They pose as humans even though they have no understanding of the human heart…. If I were to encounter such monsters, I would likely be eaten by them... because in truth, I am that monster."_

Currently it was Ali that Chloe was concerned about. Her face had been unnaturally pale since she'd looked down into the open casket to face the man who had done so much harm in her life. Chloe squeezed Ali's hand and Ali turned her face to Chloe, appearing almost in shock.

_"When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you." _

One of the cemetery's caretakers drove past slowly in an old truck that could probably qualify for an antique. He stopped just past them and climbed out slowly, then shut the door with a creak and a bang that had Ali jumping and clutching at Chloe's arm and all the collected security guards tensing.

"Are you OK?" Chloe murmured quietly. Ali nodded but clutched at Chloe's arm with her other hand, now huddling against Chloe's side protectively.

Chloe's words drew Lex's attention and she could feel the weight of his gaze. She'd always been able to sense when his attention was on her, and now with him standing a mere foot away, was no exception.

Ali nodded but still looked dazed. Chloe squeezed her hand tighter and wished that Oliver had not been so stubborn about coming. Chloe glanced over at Lex and shook her head slightly.

"_Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."_

Lex's eyebrows drew together and he must have indicated for the preacher to finish quickly because the man paused, stuttered then closed the bible and concluded.

_"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest... ah... for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return."_

Lex nodded and the preacher bowed his head, two men stepped forward to close the coffin's lid and Ali flinched again. The coffin lowered into the ground and Lex stepped forward and bent down to take up a handful of cold dirt, scattering it over the shiny black case that would house his father from that day forward.

Lex stood over the hole in the ground and glanced over his shoulder at Julian. The boy stepped forward reluctantly and copied his brother's gesture.

Lex clasped his hand around Julian's shoulder and squeezed it, causing Chloe's emotions to swell. Julian looked at his brother to acknowledge the support, nodding, then looking to the side, unable to sustain his brother's intense gaze. Lex's lips pulled up to form half a smile and indicated that Julian could go. The boy fled happily, shooting Lex a smile as he retreated to the road to wait by their car.

"Chloe?" Lex asked, a questioning invitation. She stepped forward, and Ali moved with her. Chloe dropped some dirt over Lionel's grave and turned to Ali who shook her head.

"Ms. Queen. I'm sorry for the harm my father caused you. I hope that seeing the old bastard in the ground gives you some comfort."

Ali lifted her eyes to meet Lex's gaze and blinked back her emotions. "Thank you for..."

"No thanks are required," he cut her off.

"Are you sorry he's dead?" Ali asked in a mere whisper.

Lex didn't flinch at all from the blunt question. "No."

Ali nodded again, her eyes unfocused, her mind clearly elsewhere.

Chloe shared a look with Lex, expressing her worry for Ali and her sympathy for Lex and Julian. Lex met her gaze then turned back to the grave site, watching as the workers begin filling the hole, committing Lionel Luthor to the darkness.

CO-CO-CO

Chloe and Ali sat silently in the back of the limousine they'd hired. Ali seemed almost catatonic, not even reacting as they inched their way through the press that had gathered at the entrance to the cemetery.

"Ali," Chloe asked softly, "where would you like to go?"

Ali shook her head and closed her eyes, lying back against the seat. Chloe directed the driver to take them to the Clock Tower, and if Ollie couldn't behave when they arrived she'd kick him out.

Chloe slid closer to Ali on the bench seat and took her limp hand in her own, hoping to pass along a bit of comfort, unsure of what else to do.

CO-CO-CO

_"Crime butchers innocence to secure a throne, and innocence struggles with all its might  
against the attempts of crime." Maximilien Robespierre_

Ali was lost in her own thoughts, but was conscious enough that when Chloe tugged on her hand Ali followed her out the car automatically.

Chloe guided Ali upstairs and was concerned to not find Oliver at home waiting for them. She sat Ali on the couch, and sat down to hold Ali's wrist in her hand. Chloe's worry grew as Ali didn't react to Chloe taking her pulse. She'd become more and more demanding that her family (including Chloe) respect her space, and her right to determine her own path in life, and very vocally expressed her dissatisfaction with any babying that she received. "I'm going to make us a pot of tea," Chloe said quietly.

Ali watched as Chloe left, appreciative of her presence, even if she was currently unable to express it. Ali closed her eyes and felt the darkness of those weeks wash over her.

CO-CO-CO

(Sept., 2002) Ali had been terrified when the men in ski masks and large guns had burst into the store she'd been shopping at with her mother. The standard three man security team was with them. Reed had gone down first, as he'd stepped between her mother and one of the men. Ali had stood in shocked stillness as his blood sprayed across the room, including her mother's fine white pants and Ali's own arm. Laura dove for Ali, pulling her down under a table of folded clothing, looking frantically for an exit, but Ali's eyes were trained on the blood splattered onto her arm.

Suddenly panic filled her and she rubbed her hand over arm, trying to wipe the blood away. Malcolm and Cesar crouched down around them, and led them to the back of the store while the gunfire continued. Ali could see their mouths moving, their bodies tense and revolvers in hand. Ali couldn't help the stray thought that their guns were minuscule compared to the other men's.

The guards had sandwiched Laura and Ali between them and tried to make it to the back of the store. When Laura's hand ripped out of Ali's, Ali had turned, to find her mother on the floor, trapped under Malcolm's dead weight. A small hole marred his forehead, and his eyes were open but blank. He was dead. Cesar pushed her into a closet and closed the door, and the darkness was more terrifying than what was happening out there.

There was more gunfire. She could hear the sound of her mother's voice. Yelling, pleading, then silent. After what felt like an eternity, the closet door opened and Ali's heart sank. One of the masked men stood before her. His smile was menacing as he grabbed her shoulder and pulled her out of her hiding spot. Ali felt a surge of hope as she saw her mother.

Laura was alive, but on the ground and was bleeding, her face bruised. Laura held out her arms and the man holding Ali laughed as she wiggled free of his grasp and ran to her mother's arms.

CO-CO-CO

_"We each begin in innocence.  
We all become guilty." Leonard F. Peltier_

(Oct. 2002) Four weeks later Ali no longer had any hope. She'd hoped each time the door opened that they were going to let them go. That each time the door opened it would be her father or Oliver come to get them. She'd hoped that the kidnappers would stop beating them. That they'd leave the door unlocked, that they'd have a change of heart.

But it never happened. Not once in the 31 days since they'd been taken. She ticked the days off, each one a mark on the cement wall of the dank room they were being held in. Four marks then a hash mark, repeated six times already. It bothered Ali. Counting days in sets of fives. If she'd known they were going to be there so long she would have marked off the sets in sevens. Seven days in a week. Seeing the sets of five, counting days by fives, bothered Ali. With little to occupy her time, she wondered about the oddest things. Why were there seven days in a week? Twenty-four hours in a day? Sixty minutes in an hour, sixty seconds in a minute? And who decided? The months made sense. Lunar cycles. Ali wondered if she'd ever see the moon again.

There was little variety to their days. They were served three meals a day. Allowed to shower every other day. And every third day either Ali or Laura were beaten, then photographed with a current edition of the Star City Register newspaper.

Proof of life. Ali had seen the movie at a friend's house. The kidnappers would take a photo of the hostage with a current paper to prove that they were still alive. If the condition of the hostage was bad, that was just extra motivation for the family to pay.

Tomorrow would be Ali's turn again. It was almost easier to be the one beaten, rather than to sit helplessly as they beat her mother. They always hit Laura harder and longer. The men who'd taken them had done their job then disappeared. Two other men watched them now. Both frightened her, but one of them scared her right down to her toes and made her skin crawl.

He seemed to enjoy it. Watching them hurt and cry. Hearing Ali beg for her mother, or Laura beg for them to take her instead of Ali.

She couldn't understand why they were still there. Why the police hadn't found them. Why her father hadn't paid the ransom. Why they were taken in the first place. She knew her father, knew he would pay. So they must want something other than money.

The door opened and the guard Ali hated the most entered with their dinner. He smirked at Ali and dropped their dinner plates loudly on the small bolted down table that served as the only piece of furniture in the room except for two light plastic chairs, a bucket in the corner that was their bathroom and a mattress on the floor in the corner.

He sauntered closer to where Laura was just rising to her feet from where she'd been sitting with her back against the wall. He leered at her and ran his hand down a long strand of her blonde hair. Laura jerked away. "Don't touch me," she demanded, earning a frightening laugh.

She moved around him to see what meager offerings they had been allotted for dinner. The cheese and ham sandwiches and baked beans, no doubt from a can, greeted her. Laura grimaced, but she knew Ali would at least eat them.

The guard circled around Laura like a cat playing with it prey and Ali tensed. He touched her arm and Laura slapped his hand away. "I said not to touch me."

He glared at her and grabbed her by her shoulders shaking her harshly.

"Mom," Ali cried.

"You're gonna learn some respect, _Mrs. Queen_," he sneered, pushing her backwards then releasing her only to backhand her hard enough to knock her to the ground.

Laura went down hard, and Ali ran over to her. "Stay back Ali," Laura commanded her daughter as she pushed up onto her arms, back peddling and looking dazed.

"You think you're better than me? Maybe it's time to teach you which one of us is on _top_, here, _Mrs. Queen_."

Laura looked horrified as he undid his belt and loosened his pants. He leaned down to grab Laura's foot, pulling her back towards him and laughing as she tried to kick him. Climbing over top of her, he slammed her head into the floor and Laura stopped fighting. Ali watched horrified as he pushed his pants down and ripped open Laura's shirt before starting on her pants. Something hard and heavy hit the floor and Ali scooted closer.

She tried to stay behind him and picked up the knife that had fallen from his belt. Ali only hesitated for a moment, then she rushed forward and sank the knife into his back. The knife entering his body made an odd sound, like nothing Ali had ever heard before, then he groaned and slumped down over Ali's mother.

CO-CO-CO

Ali was still sitting on the couch, silent and still, when Oliver appeared. Chloe came out from the kitchen to watch as he sat down by his sister without a word and draped his arm around her gently. As if a dam broke, Ali's face crumpled and she turned into his arms. He pressed his face into her hair and hugged her closer. "It's OK Ali, you're here, safe, and stronger than ever. Lionel Luthor will never touch your life again." She whimpered and pressed her face tighter to his chest. "You survived Ali, you saved Mom, you're a hero. I know it hurts, I know it was hard, but it's over, it's all over now."

Chloe's eyes filled with tears at the tender scene, the words only murmurs to her, but the body language was universally understood. She wondered what had happened while Ali and Laura had been held by Lionel. She'd given a lot of consideration to going back, one more trip to the past, but Ali and Laura and both come out alive, and Chloe was worried that anything she did would result in a worse outcome, but Ali's weeping was making her reconsider.

Oliver insisted Ali stay with them at the loft for a few days and Ali gave in without too much protests, which only showed how unsteady she was.

Chloe didn't ask for the story, she knew that Ali would share if and when she wanted to and was ready.

As Ali helped Chloe load the dishes into the dishwasher as Oliver spoke to his parents in hushed tones in the other room, Ali turned to Chloe. "Thanks for coming with me today, I really needed to go, but I wouldn't have gone alone."

"No thanks required. You had me worried, but Oliver seemed to be just what you needed. He's a good brother."

"The best," Ali said with deeply felt emotion. "And now I have a sister too." Chloe smiled and felt her throat tighten with emotion. "Do you think a person can be forgiven for… something unforgivable?" Ali asked.

Chloe considered the question, but she knew the answer. "I think that we can be forgiven anything. I think that the context of any action is as important as the action itself. I think that anything you had to do to survive, anything you had to do to come back to your family, was not only forgivable, but justifiable." Chloe gave Ali a long look, ignoring Oliver at her back even though she could feel the weight of his gaze. "Lionel Luthor was an evil, depraved man. The men he hired were as bad as him. Anything that happened then is over now."

"But what if his sons know? What if…"

"I don't know what happened Ali, but I know this. If Lex knows, he would never do anything with that knowledge. He would never hurt you, use any knowledge about the kidnapping to hurt you or your family. He's not his father."

"Then it's over."

"It is if you let it be," Chloe said with a depth of knowledge and experience beyond her years.

Ali's eyes went to her brother and she forced a smile, but he could see that the tension was easing in her, though not completely gone. "Can you get us some cotton candy Ollie? And I'm going to have to insist that you watch a girly movie with us."

"Pink or blue? And a movie I can do, but please do not make me watch Dirty Dancing again."

"Pink. And I think we can compromise and watch the Princess Bride."

"Cotton candy, pink, coming right up."

CO-CO-CO

"_Love withers under constraints: its very essence is liberty: it is compatible neither with obedience, jealousy, nor fear: it is there most pure, perfect, and unlimited where its votaries live in confidence, equality and unreserve." Percy Bysshe Shelley _

(April, 2011) Oliver had considered various ways to propose to Chloe. A romantic dinner. A walk on the beach. The midpoint during a vacation at a private villa. On a rooftop in his Green Arrow costume. In bed. By leaving the ring for her to find somewhere. Hiding the ring in a bag of coffee. Skywriting. But in the end he decided to keep it simple, easy, and the only symbolism was that it was daytime.

Chloe was a beam of sunshine, shining a warming light into his life and the lives of everyone he loved. She was bright and beautiful and Oliver needed her in his life. He wanted forever, and was pretty sure that she wanted the same with him.

Oliver was out of town the week leading up to the event, so he had flowers delivered to her each day at work and when she arrived at home she'd found more flowers, planted pots of flowers in varying hues and shapes. Slowly over the week the Clock Tower patio became packed with flowers. Tulips, tuberoses, calla lilies, irises, daises and daffodils and other varieties Oliver couldn't name, but that made Chloe smile.

He returned to Metropolis on Friday night, and took her out for a celebratory dinner, even offering to suffer through Thai food for her if she wanted. She let him get as far as the door of a Thai restaurant before she laughingly led him down the street to an Indian place that they both liked.

On Saturday morning, Oliver woke Chloe to a tender round of lovemaking then invited her downstairs to where a breakfast brunch awaited them.

The sun was shining and the caterers had come and gone by the time Chloe came downstairs dressed in a form fitting black sweater with a deep v neck that revealed enough cleavage to distract Oliver for a moment, with a tan and black horizontal stripped skirt with wide pleats that he knew she had bought while shopping with his mother and Ali. Her feet were bare, leaving her a full head shorter than him.

She shot him a curious look, questioning both the full treatment for breakfast and his leering look, but extravagant gestures weren't unusual for Oliver, and neither were admiring glances, even if he had kept her up half the night.

He always kept her on her toes; he'd take her to a hole-in-the-wall restaurant one day, then bring back sushi from Tokyo on this next business trip. He gave her flowers he picked from his parents' gardens and beautiful antique jewelry that he claimed made him think of her.

He also claimed to love to watch her eat and especially drink coffee. He claimed he was simply appreciating her sensual enjoyment of food, (and especially coffee) but Chloe thought he had some weird sort of fetish.

Regardless, while she shot him a questioning look at discovering the outdoor dining table made up in white linen, silver covered trays full of her favorite breakfast offerings, and three varieties of coffee for her to choose from, she didn't ascribe more importance to it than that Oliver was a wonderful, attentive man.

CO-CO-CO

"_The arms of love encompass you with your present, your past, your future, the arms of love gather you together." Antoine de Saint-Exupéry _

"Will you marry me, Chloe Sullivan?" he asked. His chair was close to hers, her hand in his, their eyes locked together. A black ring box was clenched in his hand, revealing his nerves.

Chloe stared at Oliver is shock, she'd felt secure in their relationship ever since their talk nearly seven months earlier, but she honestly hadn't been expecting this. "Ollie, I…" Her heart had one answer, and she could barely keep it contained, but her mind was racing. She needed to tell him the truth, once and for all, before she could accept his proposal. Her heart flipped over as grief and fear filled eventually making their way to her expression.

"Chloe… you're starting to worry me here," Oliver said giving her hand a squeeze as she failed to continue.

She tried to smile, but couldn't. She finally faced the fact that she could lose him again. She'd kept secrets from him, big ones. Secrets that affected his past and their present. She loved him, but she'd loved another version of him too. If he couldn't accept it, or her ability, she could lose him. The thought terrified her.

"Yes," she whispered as tears slipped down her cheeks. The other Oliver had said he wanted to marry her too, but she'd left him, erased him from existence before they'd gotten that far. And here was another Oliver, so similar, she refused to allow herself to think in terms of which Oliver was a better Oliver. There was just one Oliver, it was the circumstances of his life that changed.

Oliver smiled and abandoning the ring box on the table, pulled her out of her chair to hug her tightly before putting enough room between them to tilt her face up to his and wipe away her tears and press a few lingering kisses to her lips and then each eye and her forehead. "That's the answer I wanted, Spitfire, but these don't look like tears of happiness."

Her face was pale against the stark black of her sweater her, petite form shaking.

"I want to marry you Ollie, I love you so much. But before we can take another step, before… I have something to tell you," she said with shuddering breaths making her sentence long and drawn out.

Oliver stilled, regarding her with a serious intensity. "Not that I don't want to know, because I do, I absolutely do, but nothing you could say could change my mind Chloe. I love you and I'm going to marry you. If you're an alien, or the freakiest of meteor freaks, or a hoarder with an internet shopping addiction, I don't care. I'm not giving you up, and I'm not walking away," he said resolutely. "So if you want to tell me, then tell me, but I don't need to know whatever it is you've been hiding because I know who you are, and I know how I feel about you."

Chloe continued to take shaky breaths, trying to let his words and assurances calm her, but she couldn't seem to get her fears under control. She didn't know how to tell him, she just knew that the time had come. She had to tell him. It was time to come clean.

"Can you take me to Star City? I want to tell you, but I might need backup," she said weakly. There was always the possibility that he would just think she was insane.

"Backup?" he questioned, his brown furrowing.

"It's a pretty unbelievable story."

"My parents."

"Yes."

Oliver stared at her, trying to decipher some bit of information, any clue from her always expressive face and eyes, but all he saw was fear. "You give them a call, I'll schedule the flight."

Chloe felt a dark sadness start to overtake her. He said he didn't care, but he was moving very quickly.

CO-CO-CO

"_Once confined to fantasy and science fiction,  
time travel is now simply an engineering problem." Michio Kaku_

Oliver steered the conversation clear of her secrets during the flight to Star City, trying to assuage her nerves, but Chloe could see he was deep in thought behind his light banter and flirtatious statements.

As they disembarked from the plane Oliver held her hand and led her to one of his sports cars parked nearby, waiting for their arrival. "Should we head straight to my parents or do you want to rest first?" he offered.

"Your parents," she said with a pale face.

Oliver nodded his agreement and opened the car door for her as the flight staff loaded their luggage into the trunk of the car. He stopped her before she could climb in. "Chloe, it's OK, remember what I said. Nothing is going to change between us." Her face puckered with sorrow and Oliver gathered her into his arms again, pressing his mouth close to her ear. "Nothing."

"You don't know that," she whispered, as her hands clutched at his arms, her nose buried in his chest.

"I know that I love you, I know that I've been waiting a lifetime to find you, I know that my life is better because of you, I know that I need you in my life, and I know all that without a moment of doubt, even knowing that there are things that I don't know."

"Ollie…"

"Do you love me?"

"Yes," she said with large sad eyes and a solemn expression.

"Do you believe that I love you?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to marry me?" he asked feeling the ring in his pocket press against his thigh, as if it were burning his flesh.

"Yes," she said with a slight smile.

"Do you want to spend the rest of your life with me as much as I want to spend mine with you?"

"Yes."

"Will you answer yes to every question I ask you for the rest of our lives?"

"No," she said with a bit more of smile on her face.

"That's my girl," he laughed, pulling her up to meet his lips in a deep kiss before setting her back on her heels and helping her into the car.

CO-CO-CO

"_You can clutch the past so tightly to your chest  
that it leaves your arms too full to embrace the present." Jan Glidewell _

His parents greeted them silently at the door, each taking their turn to hug Chloe and Oliver. "So, the time has come," Robert said gently, rubbing his hand up and down Chloe's arm, silently offering his support.

"Yeah," she said hoarsely.

"It will be fine," Laura said confidently.

Oliver observed them all then shook his head. Taking in Chloe's still pale face, he decided to get this over with as soon as possible. He ushered them into a comfortable seating room, one frequently used by the family. "This is your show Spitfire," he said kindly.

Chloe looked up at him, then at each of his parents, her lips compressing into a tortured line. "I think... I think I'd like to tell Ollie alone, but I'll call if I need your… coaboration," Chloe said calmly, but with a waiver in her voice.

"Of course," Robert agreed, shooting Laura a demanding look when she was about to object. "We're here if you need us." Robert took his wife's hand and led her out of the room past their son, patting him on the back. Laura's face was full of concern and ire but she let her husband remove them from a scene long in the making.

Oliver watched as Chloe moved around the room restlessly, unable to settle, and apparently unable to begin. She was good with words, better than good. She could banter like a sitcom writer, convey complex information as eloquently as a surgeon, and tell a story like a bestselling novelist, but she was struggling.

Oliver wandered over to the wide glass doors that separated the room from the ocean deck, pushing them open, his own movements graceful and controlled whereas hers were jerky and unsettled.

She watched warily as he walked over to her and took her hand, leading her out to the deck where the ocean breeze kept the air in constant motion around them. The soothing sound of the waves, crashing on the rocks and beach below seemed to help her as she took a few deep calming breaths.

"I should just start, because there is no good way to say this, no easy explanation," she finally uttered. Oliver kept her hand in his, rubbing his thumb soothingly on the back of her hand. "I..." she looked away from him, then back with a resoluteness that he recognized. "I'm not exactly who you think I am. No, no. I'll start at the beginning. I think I should start at the beginning. I'll try anyway."

"It's OK Chloe," he said softly, squeezing her hand.

"I have an ability."

"A meteor ability?" he asked with a frown.

"Not exactly," she grimaced. "But I did. I mean I have an ability now, I had a meteor ability before, and the two are connected."

He just looked confused and Chloe smiled, then appeared to be close to tears. "OK," Oliver said, his whole countenance shaped to convey that he was unruffled, trying to share his calm with her. He tugged on her hand and led her over to a long, softly cushioned bench. Sitting down he made sure there was plenty of contact between them, her hand in his, her leg pressed against his, the ocean spread before them in a wash of endless blue, the last streaks of sunset still lighting the sky.

She took a deep breath, then blew it out. "You know about Clark. And you know that there have been other Kryptonians on Earth." He nodded. "The Kryptonians were smart, very smart, and advanced, one of their creations was an artificial intelligence. It's a long story, but he ended up on Earth and he wasn't the good kind of Kryptonian, at least not then. He wanted all the knowledge in the universe, and the easiest way to get a jump start on that was to get to Clark's fortress."

"In the arctic," Oliver said, just to let her know he was following her story so far.

"Yes, Clark..." she shook her head, "never mind, that's not important. At some point Brainiac attacked Lana and then me, but when he attacked me, my meteor ability protected me, and somehow I ended up with some of him... transferring into me. His knowledge, and sometimes his physical strength, but some part of him."

Oliver barely kept his mouth from falling open. He'd been joking about her being an alien. Or so he'd thought. "What was your meteor ability?" he asked with forced composure.

"What? Oh, I could heal people. Even bring them back from the dead sometimes." This time his mouth did fall open and he felt his heart clench in fear. "But I can't anymore, I don't think. I haven't tried in a long time. I think it kinda burned itself out when it protected me from Brainiac."

"Brainiac, the artificial intelligence."

"Yeah." She paused to look at him and seeing his gobsmacked look, squeezed his hand. "You OK so far Ollie?"

"Yeah, I'm good. You won't mind if I lock you up in Watchtower for the duration of our marriage, right?" She smiled and her eyes lit up with humor, and Oliver relaxed. "I'm not kidding Spitfire, you are a serious hazard to have roaming out there in the world." He squeezed her hand back. "So you do have or did have some of this alien AI in you, and if it's have then what can we do to get rid of it?"

"Have. And I don't need a cure. In the beginning it might have been dangerous, but not now. At the time it scared me, a lot, but it was cool too, having all that knowledge, but our minds aren't meant to... anyway..." she decided not to go into her losing her memories of being taken over by Brainiac.

"You're killing me, Chloe," Oliver groaned.

Inside from a nearby room Robert and Laura shared wide eyed looks at Chloe's story. The clear night air was carrying her words to their location easily, and neither were willing to turn away. They'd wanted these answers for years.

"Sorry," she smiled and Oliver was relieved to see that she'd lost some of her obvious nerves. "Brainiac can't die, since he's not really alive, so he's lived a very long time. He will live a very long time. And in the future, he turned good." She looked at him warily waiting for his response but Oliver simply kept his eyes on her and his mouth shut. She was speaking about the future in the past tense, and Oliver knew there was a reason for it, but he didn't know what. "To answer your question, no, we can't get rid of it... him. Whatever. Apparently Clark is going to live a long time too, and be a great hero, and some future bad guy got the idea to travel back in time to kill Clark now, so he couldn't create the Legion."

"Right, so bad Brainiac in the past, good Brainiac the future, and bad guys traveling from the future to the past to kill Boyscout, before he can form a Legion."

"The Legion. They're like your team, only bigger and with more aliens."

Oliver's eyes widened, but he nodded along, feeling the beginning of a headache begin behind his eyes. "Sure, of course. Maybe you could get to your part in all this Chloe..."

"Right, sorry. So some of the Legion came back in time too, to save Clark, and tried to get rid of the bit of Brainiac in me, but it didn't work. It helped, and they thought they'd succeeded, but when Brainiac came back to the past later on, he and I... synced." She smiled at him tentatively, and Oliver tried to process, more aliens, time travel, and Chloe in the middle of it all.

"Synced... like an I-pod."

"Yeah, kinda like that," she agreed.

"What does that mean?"

"I... I kinda..." she hesitated. "I got his ability to time travel."

* * *

AN- From the proposal forward to the end of Chloe's story was written together, and it was tough to write, getting in all the info without being boring and while conveying plenty of emotion was a tall order. I hope you all enjoyed it, many of you have been asking since before Chloe gave Oliver a black eye if she would ever tell him the truth or if he would find it out on his own.

I'm kinda surprised that no one ever asked what had happened to Laura and Ali while they were being held by Lionel, but I always knew it had to be something major. It took me awhile to land on this as the trauma that had derailed Ali, but I think it works.

Skirt Chloe was wearing when she came down for breakfast, then later traveled to Star City in is on Pinterest: pinterest dot com slash pin slash 282741682825777608 or the link will be up at LJ.

Words: 7614+608

One chapter left, but it might be a LONG one.


	21. Ch21: Love of a Lifetime

I think there was some justifiable criticism that the funeral and Ali's recollection of the kidnapping ended abruptly. So I added a few paragraphs that act like a bridge. Go back and read if you're interested.

* * *

**Ch. 21: Love of a Lifetime**

"_I like men who have a future and women who have a past." Oscar Wilde_

(April, 2011) "You could heal people, but now you can't, but you can _travel through time_," Oliver said slowly as if processing each word before he said it, his eyes were unfocused, his thoughts turned inward, but his hand on hers gave her comfort. His thumb never stopped moving in slow circles on the back of her hand.

"Yes," she said softly.

"And you know this because you've done it."

"Yes."

"You traveled... back in time." His eyes suddenly focused on her and she saw that the pieces were falling together for him. "You're the Chloe my parents knew years ago." She nodded with obvious tension. "There aren't two Chloes, just you."

"Just me," she confirmed in a voice only slightly above a whisper.

"When did all this happen?" he questioned.

"I got the ability the January before I met you. I haven't taken a trip in months." Oliver regarded her gravely, waiting for the rest of the story. "I changed the past Oliver. Yours and mine. I changed the world," she nearly whispered, her voice was pitched so low.

"How?" She broke eye contact with him and he felt her tense up again. "Chloe, just tell me. I'm not going to deny that I'm freaking out a bit here, and locking you up seems like a better and better idea by the moment, but nothing you've said changes anything for me. I love you."

Her eyes filled with tears. "I love you too Ollie," she said softly. "I loved you before you even met me."

Oliver frowned trying to process that, but if time travel was on the table, anything was possible. "What do you mean?"

"I changed the past, your past, mine. The world I grew up in, I changed it, erased it, made it better," she said in a rush. "In my reality, Lionel Luthor was an unstoppable force. He killed his parents, used the insurance money to start LuthorCorp. He became wildly successful, but it was never enough. He got involved with Dr. Swann. He wanted power, and he wanted Clark all to himself."

She broke off again to take a few rapid breaths and met his eyes again. "Your parents stood in his way, so he killed them. He killed them in 1989."

Inside the house, Robert and Laura were hugging, hearing Chloe's story from her own point of view, unable to imagine a world where she didn't come to save them.

"The bomb on the plane," Oliver said in dawning realization. His life had changed around that time. When he was a child he didn't know what caused the changes in his life, just that it did. His parents pulled him out of Excelsior and put him in school in Star City. They'd increased security dramatically, and soon after had Ali. Years later Oliver had learned about the threat Lionel Luthor posed to his family, beginning with a bomb on his parents' plane in 1989.

"I tried different ways to stop him, so many ways, but it never worked. Either it went horribly wrong and the future was worse, or I barely managed to slow him down. And always, _always_ your parents died."

Oliver froze, realizing something for the first time. "You said you got your ability in January. Before you met me. Why would you come back to save my parents if we didn't know each other?" Her words echoed in his ears '_I loved you before you even met me.'_

Chloe hesitated and tried to pull her hand out of his, but Oliver held on. When she continued to struggle against him, he let go but captured her in his arms and pulled her tightly into his side, pulling her legs over his and trapping them there with a heavy arm, so she couldn't get up. "Ollie," she huffed, still squirming against him.

"Just answer the question Chloe."

"_A woman's heart is a deep ocean of secrets." Gloria Stuart_

She stared down at her lap, suddenly going still. "I did know you. I knew another you. In my reality, you came to Metropolis in 2007 after Dark Thursday."

"And we were together?"

His steady question drew her eyes up to meet his. "Yes, but not right away. You came to stop Lex. Lex and Lionel were much worse in my reality. _So much worse._ LuthorCorp was more powerful, as large as QI is now, and they were pretty much untouchable. Lex was a villain and you were a hero, and you came to stop him. You donated money to Mrs. Kent's campaign and met Lois. You started dating and then met Clark. Eventually you and I met." Chloe sped through her history quickly, trying not to get bogged down in details. There would be time for that later. At least she hoped there would be time for that, Oliver seemed to be taking the news surprisingly well.

Oliver looked incredulous. "I dated... Lois?"

Chloe nodded. "For awhile. And you and Clark were friends... kind of."

"Neither of those things seem believable, but OK." Oliver shifted her so she was lying on her back on the bench with him on his side next to her, looking down at her. He rested his hand over her soft stomach, his fingers finding skin and savoring the silky softness he associated with her. "So when did you and I get together?"

"Why do you think that we did?" she asked with no hint of a smile on her face.

"Because you came back to rescue my parents, Chloe. Because you said you loved me before you met me... here."

"I rescued Victor's parents too, and he and I have never dated," she argued.

Oliver stared her down. "We were together, we were in love." He leaned down to press a hard kiss to her lips, demanding the truth, but when her lips clung to his and her arms wrapped around his neck he deepened the kiss, taking his time and soothing both their nerves while underlying the point that the connection between them was elemental. "Tell me I'm wrong."

"A lot happened Ollie. I figured out your secret identity, we became friends, I did some 'odd jobs' for you, and eventually joined your team fulltime after Lex fired me from the Daily Planet."

Oliver shook his head realizing how similar some of her story was to the life he knew. "And we fell in love and got together," he insisted.

"Not exactly," she disagreed. "We got together, then developed feelings for each other. Or at least that's how it worked for me, apparently you were lying to me and leading me down the garden path the whole time," she said with put upon indignity.

Oliver laughed releasing some of the tension that had built up during her explanation. "As long as it worked. Now, keep going."

She frowned at him but she wasn't rigid with tension, so Oliver remained relaxed, kept his gaze locked on her. His hand stroked up and down her side, partly to comfort her, partly so he could keep her still if she tried to bolt again.

"I went back to stop Lionel from starting LuthorCorp, and failed. I went back to stop Virgil Swann from inviting Lionel to join Veritas, and your parents still died. I stopped their deaths directly... so many times, but he always tried again. Poison, assignation, muggings, car bombs, accidents at sea... I failed over and over again. Maybe I bought you a few years more with them, maybe I weakened or slowed LuthorCorp, but it was never enough. I kept trying and I figured out how to undo some of my more spectacular failures-"

"Like what?" She frowned at him, caught off-guard. "What constitutes an epic failure in the realm of time travel?"

"You... the you I knew, you were hurt by your parents deaths, hurt and alone and you had a dark side much greater than you... you do now." Oliver nodded his acceptance of her judgment, he couldn't imagine losing his parents as a child or even now. "They died when you were nine, but there were worse times in your life for them to die. If they died when you were a teenager, it sent you into a spiral. In some of the futures I created you weren't a hero, in at least one, you were dead before I even met you." Oliver hugged her tightly, happy to feel her small hands clutching at him to pull him closer, to keep him close. He rolled onto his side, pulling her into his chest, letting her press her face into his neck and he felt her hot tears as she released some of the strain her story was putting on her.

"I'm right here Spitfire, right here," he murmured to console her, his hand tracing up and down her back, one arm holding her firmly to him, the other sliding under her light sweater to caress the smooth skin of her back.

After a minute she stopped shaking and Oliver felt the last of her tears soak into his shirt. She pulled back a little, wiping away the remaining wetness on her cheeks. "You used to call me Sidekick, not Spitfire." She settled back down on the bench and Oliver shifted so he was again propped up on one elbow, looking down at her.

"Sidekick? That's a horrible nickname," he said easily, earning a smile from her.

"I liked it," she disagreed. "When I didn't hate it. Clark always treated me as a sidekick, we were friends that degenerated into working associates. He only came around when he needed something from me." She tried to shrug it off, but Oliver could see that it had hurt her deeply.

"I never liked that guy," Oliver agreed easily.

She frowned at him, slapping her hand lightly over his stomach. "You don't like him because he dated me," she teased.

"And because he's an ass, but yeah OK, I don't like that you dated the all powerful alien hero."

"I didn't."

"What?" Oliver asked in confusion.

"Where I came from, Clark and I were just friends. I had a crush on him in high school, a horrible crush, but we never..."

"Never, never?" Oliver asked with happiness.

"We kissed and went on a few dates, but no, we never slept together if that's what you're asking."

"It was, and thanks for that. I'll sleep easier now." Chloe shook her head at his silliness, but Oliver frowned again. "How does saving my parents lives end up with you dating Clark?"

Chloe frowned, "I don't know, Clark and I dated in a few realities, but I think this time it had more to do with me changing my own past. But it probably also had to do with your parents keeping Lionel out of Smallville. Clark had a better life here too. So many people had better lives."

"We'll get to your past, 'cause I am dying to know how that works, you live the life you made here, but you're still carrying all the memories from another life?"

"Yeah."

"So you set out to stop Lionel," he gave her a daunting look, "Seriously locking you in a room- I think I can build an impenetrable one under the manner..." he mused, then returned to his original question, "and it didn't work, so what happened to change all that? How am I here, with you and my parents?"

"I almost gave up, but..." Chloe got lost for a moment in her memories, recalling that last fight with the other Oliver, him asking her to stay with him, then his upset over the news story about his parents, that had made up her mind once and for all to change his past. "I finally figured it out. I couldn't stop Lionel with an intervention at one moment in time, or even several moments. I had to find a force equal to him, to oppose him."

Once again Oliver had a look of intense concentration. "My parents. You came back and you told them. You saved them in 1989, and you told them that Lionel wouldn't stop trying. All that time, they were looking for you."

"And Clark, I'd guess, we'd have to ask them."

"You haven't talked to them about all this?" Oliver asked in surprise.

"I..." she shook her head. "It was hard, adjusting to this life. In my old life, things were bad, but I had you. And then... and then I didn't. I finally succeeded," she squeezed the words out past a lump in her throat, recalling her hurt and despair over losing him. She'd lain awake every night for months, crying over what she'd lost, her body aching. "But you... he was gone."

"Are we so dissimilar?" Oliver asked in curious sympathy, his hand moving over her stomach and hip again, just a gentle caress, needing to touch her as much as she needed the reassurance of his touch.

"Yes and no."

"And you loved him."

"Yes," she choked out.

"And you love me."

"Yes."

"You know Spitfire, this is the height of vanity. I'm jealous of myself," he joked, causing her to laugh involuntarily as her eyes filled with tears again.

"Your ego knows no limits," she deadpanned, but was pleased that he wasn't tripping out over whether she loved him or the other Oliver.

He smirked down at her then kissed her hard, letting his hands roam over her body for a few long minutes, his touch igniting her out of control emotions in to arousal, before pulling back. "So now I know, are you still going to marry me?"

"Do you still want me too?" she asked with wide eyes.

"I told you nothing you could say would change how I feel, Chloe, but I lied, I may love you even more now."

"I love you Ollie."

"And you'll marry me," he said leadingly.

"And I'll marry you," she said with a laugh.

He kissed her again and Chloe melted into him, but he pulled back again before things went too far. "Don't plan on getting any sleep tonight, but I think it's time to get my parents out here. Besides I'm pretty sure they're eavesdropping on us already."

Chloe's eyes widened she blushed furiously as she tried to push him off of her but Oliver moved at a much slower pace, sitting up and running his hands over her body, pushing askew her clothes as she tried to straighten them. When his hand slipped under her skirt and slid up her thigh, she slapped his hand away causing Oliver to grin.

"Mom, Dad, you can come out now."

Laura and Robert appeared quickly, giving truth to Oliver's claims. Oliver's smile grew, as Chloe's flush intensified.

"Welcome to the family, we're a nosey lot, but you already love us so, we're keeping you," Laura greeted with a wide but shaky smile.

"Sorry Mom, but I'm staking first claim on Chloe, you may have met her before me, but she's mine now."

Robert and Laura both looked happy but also overwhelmed by the night's revelations. "Don't mess it up now Oliver," Robert cautioned, giving Chloe a firm hug while Laura fought back tears and walked into Oliver's open arms.

"You two are both... unbelievable," she attempted to make it sound like a complaint, but her voice was soft and tender.

CO-CO-CO

Robert and Laura confirmed Chloe's story, adding their parts to the story. They'd looked for Chloe and The Traveler, beginning as soon as she'd come and gone in 1989. They'd found Clark quickly enough, but it had taken a few more years before Robert was convinced that Chloe Sullivan from Metropolis was their Chloe, and a few more years until Chloe moved to Smallville with her dad for Robert to concede the point.

"But… why?" Chloe asked.

"We wanted to look after you, in case you ever needed us. You gave us our family, Chloe. A second chance, it was the least we could do," Laura said with tears in her eyes.

"So that's everything then?" Oliver questioned, giving his parents a hard look, but keeping his gaze soft for Chloe.

"Not quite," Laura said causing surprise to show on both Robert and Chloe's faces.

"There was no Ali where Chloe came from, am I right?" Laura asked Chloe for confirmation.

"No, Oliver was an only child."

Oliver drew back, if he was unable to imagine his life without his parents, he was completely unable to fathom a life without Ali.

"We'd wanted a second child before, but it never happened. Then we decided to have a second child the day we met you Chloe," Laura said fondly.

Oliver nodded, a heavy feeling in his heart as he contemplated another life, one he might have endured if not for Chloe. "Anything else?"

Laura looked at Chloe, but the smaller girl just looked drained. "The timing." Laura said with a defiant look at her husband who looked hesitant, but didn't try to interrupt her. "Chloe, saved us for the last time, I guess, in 1989, then went back to her own time. She met Ali that afternoon, and you that evening. For us it was 20 years ago, for her it was just a two years ago."

Oliver's eyebrows furrowed, remembering her shocked expression that first meeting, suddenly understanding it. He sat down by her on the couch she was curled up in, seeing the truth of his mother's words in her expression. "The boyfriend you told Ali about, the one you loved but gave up, that was me. The boyfriend who I reminded you of was me." She nodded, her lips compressing together tightly. "I'm so sorry Spitfire. I was such an ass to you. I didn't know how to deal with you, I had so many questions, then I just wanted to be around you, and all that time…"

Chloe's breathing suddenly got rough, her chest rising and falling rapidly as her emotions spilled out, and this time it was Laura who pulled Robert out of the room to give their son and his fiancé, their savior, some privacy. Oliver pulled Chloe into his lap, her legs easily straddling his lap as he rested her against his chest rubbing his hands up and down her back.

CO-CO-CO

When Chloe had settled again, soaking Oliver's shirt collar, anew, he led her back outside then down the winding stairs the dropped down to the beach below. They walked and talked into the night as Oliver asked questions and Chloe tried to fill in the gaps. Most of his questions dealt with their present, coloring in their interactions with her history.

Sometime later, while the three-quarter full moon lit the night and painted the landscape in black and white, Oliver led her back up a few flights of the wood stairs to a deck midway between the beach and the house above.

"This is amazing, and I want to know more, but I asked you something earlier today," Oliver began as he pulled the ring out of his pocket and dropped down on one knee before her. "I asked your father for permission, I even had a conversation with General Lane. My family is onboard. So now I just need one little word from you. I love you Chloe, more than I could have imagined before meeting you. Spend your life with me, marry me."

Chloe looked into his beloved face and wanted to tell him yes. She smiled, she'd already told him yes, several times already, but she guessed this was the time, and spared a glance at the ring, noting that it was three good sized stones, one emerald cut between two solitaire cut diamonds twinkling in the moonlight. Her gaze moved back to his dark brown eyes.

"There are things, so many things about me, that you don't know Ollie, maybe we should-"

"Do you love me?"

"You know I do," she said with wiry amusement.

"Then agree to marry me Chloe, and let me put this ring on your finger. It's been burning a hole in my leg all day."

"Ollie, I want to marry you, I do," she held her finger over his lips to keep him quiet. "But there are a few things I think you should know first. So please…" He stood reluctantly and sat on the double sun lounge on the deck, pulling her close and settling her down in his lap. "I was married."

"So you're a divorcee, from another reality. Is that the best you got?" Oliver said lightly, but she felt the tensing of his arm and the reflexive swallow he made.

"Kinda, not exactly. We were almost divorced when he died," Chloe said with some distant sadness in her eyes.

"Were you married to me?"

"No, someone else."

"Someone you know here, in this life?" She nodded. "And I just lost that bit of comfort that you not being with Clark brought me."

She smiled at his somewhat serious teasing, and pressed a kiss to his lips. "I loved him, but I didn't love him like I should have. That life… it was harder than this one, Ollie. Darker. I lost more… I lost hope, and I lost myself. Jimmy was my shot at a normal life. But it didn't work out and he paid the price."

"But he's alive here, Spitfire, you saved him."

She smiled. "I know. And you have nothing to worry about Ollie. I love you. Just you. And what I feel for you is a million times more than I ever felt for Jimmy. Which makes me feel like a bad person, but it's the truth."

He lifted her left hand and held up the ring in his other but Chloe rushed to speech again. "There's more."

"Does it change who you are? Have you been acting this whole time?"

"No, of course not."

"Then I know all I need to. I love you Chloe, and you love me. And that's all. That's everything." She smiled at him tremulously. "Tell me whatever you want to later. But right now," he dropped down on one knee before her in the sand. "Chloe Sullivan, will you marry me?"

Her eyes filled with tears and she smiled, "Yes, a million times yes."

Oliver grinned and slipped the ring onto her finger as he stood up and wrapped her into his arms, lifting her off her feet. Chloe clung to him, her arms tight around his neck as her feet dangled and he swung her around in joy.

CO-CO-CO

_"If you do not conquer self, you will be conquered by self." Napoleon Hill_

"Did he know, this other me, did he know what you were trying to do?"

Chloe and Oliver were still lying outside on the lower deck at Queen Manner. They'd made love after she'd finally let him slip the ring on her finger and were currently huddled against each other under a few blankets Oliver pulled from an all weather chest that sat in the corner of the deck.

"Yes. Not at first, but it was hard to hide, I kept failing, and then one time I had been gone for awhile, and he was worried… I had to tell him then."

"And how did he feel about it? Did he want you to do it?"

"No, he wanted me to stay," Chloe forced out though her throat felt raw with repressed grief. "He worried that he could lose them and lose me too."

"I can understand that."

"But it's not a fair thing to ask Ollie, if I had given you... him the choice, what was he supposed to choose? The chance to have your parents back, but possibly lose me? Or keep me, but never take the chance to save your parents? How could anyone choose?" she asked switching back and forth between referring to him and this other version of him. It was clearly confusing for her, but Oliver found that he was OK with the idea of her loving him and loving another him.

"I honestly don't know."

"No," she said resolutely. "He may have been angry with me, you may be angry with me now, but could you imagine your life without your parents? Without Ali? Could you?"

"I'm not judging you Chloe, I just wondered what this other me thought, if he was selfish like me."

"Selfish?"

"He wanted to keep the love he had, the woman he would make his life with. I can understand that. If you ever leave me Chloe I will find a way to chase you through whatever past you disappear into, I will bring you back."

"That would be sweet, if it wasn't borderline stalkerish," she said with an arch look, but also with a smile.

"Funny, you're funny are very inappropriate times, Spitfire." She smirked at him and he kissed her lightly. "So tell me, funny one, how many times did we end up together anyway? All of them? Ninety percent?"

"If we knew each other, we got together. But you… you died in some of the lives too. Your daredevil side didn't find a productive outlet and you were a crazy mountain climbing, cliff diving, party boy." She smiled fondly. "In one reality, we didn't know each other, but I ran into you on the street. You picked me up in ten minutes flat."

"And you let me?" he asked with pride, but his lip pushed out into a pout as he realized she'd made it much harder on him in this reality.

"I was emotionally vulnerable, and I seem to find you irresistibly attractive. It's a weakness."

"Irresistible, huh? I like the sound of that."

"That sound you hear is your ego reaching capacity, any more hot air and it will blow. You know, he may have looked like you but he… wasn't. He didn't have any of the parts of you that make me love you. He had no purpose, no drive, he was adrift. I think he was a decent person, just… lost."

"I can see that. I can't imagine losing my parents at any age, and to be alone, no Ali, no one at all. I'm not sure how I would react."

"Since I'm speaking from experience here… I'd say it's 60/40, hero to wastrel," she teased, then turned serious. "The hero was always in you Ollie, somehow it's just part of who you are. The rest of it… it's not you, it's you hiding from yourself."

"Hmm, how do the Legion travel back in time?" he asked and Chloe blinked at the change in subject.

CO-CO-CO

"_He who controls the present, controls the past.  
He who controls the past, controls the future." George Orwell_

On the flight back to Metropolis, Oliver had a new alarming thought. "Chloe, who knows about this, about what you can do?"

"Just you, your parents, Lois and my mother," she replied.

"No one else?" he asked, pacing back and forth in front of where she sat on one of the plane's built in sofas.

"Who else would I have told?"

"Your father, Clark."

"Not my dad. I think he's had to deal with enough with all my injuries in high school. Clark knows, I told him when I asked him to send Davis away."

Oliver nodded, and continued his restless movements. He wasn't too surprised. "That's part of why he's been so weird with you for the last few months?" Chloe nodded and shrugged. Clark had taken a few months to come around again after Chloe's revelation, and in his eyes, her betrayal.

Chloe had felt her heart break a bit when Clark had finally faced her and told her that she wasn't his Chloe, he didn't know her, and they were not friends. But then she'd agreed. She wasn't his Chloe, she belonged to herself. And that was a battle hard fought.

Lois had taken Clark to task, insisting that if anyone knew Chloe it was her, and this Chloe was Chloe, just a slightly different version of the one they'd known. Clark had been horrified that Lois had known and kept the secret from him and Chloe had finally had enough of his hypocrisy. She'd demanded that he tell Lois his secret or she would. Since according to him they weren't friends, she didn't own him any loyalty. Chloe had left them to it then, and three weeks later Clark had shown up at the Clock Tower for their Wednesday morning run as if the past three months and all the hurtful words had never happened.

"I told Victor once, to ask him what he wanted more, his family or not to become Cyborg."

Oliver looked confused and stopped his pacing.

"In my world and this one, Victor's family died in a car crash that left him injured and led to him becoming who he is now. I went back, I stopped the accident but he still ended up injured. I don't believe in fate, but there are things that seem to repeat. Patterns that can't be altered."

"Vic knows," Oliver murmured.

"No, he did. But then I changed his past, I changed it and we never had that conversation. He knew, but now he doesn't."

"How do you keep it all straight?" Oliver asked as he sat down beside her and pulled her into his side.

"Sometimes I don't. My mistakes are why the guys think I'm psychic."

Oliver laughed kissed her. "Maybe you don't believe in fate, but I'm surer than ever that my fate always has and always will lie with you."

CO-CO-CO

Lois and Chloe still kept up their 'cousin time' usually in the form of movie night on random Friday nights, and now with Oliver providing the location and the food.

About a week after Chloe had finally told him the truth, Lois was at the Clock Tower loft, waiting for Chloe to get home to start the movie.

"Do you know anyone named Jimmy?" Oliver asked, seemingly randomly.

"Not that I can think of, at least not since third grade."

"No Jimmys, huh? Maybe a James?"

"Why are you asking?"

"Chloe's husband, ex, past life significant other, whatever you want to call him… Jimmy."

"She never told me his name," Lois said softly, softer than Oliver had ever heard her speak. "Jimmy," she repeated, thinking hard. "You know I think… wait, why do you want to know?" she asked with pointed suspicion.

"Chloe feels bad still about what happened then, she said he's here, she knows him."

"And?"

"And I want to make sure he's alright, see if I can help him here, for Chloe."

"Jesus. You are whipped. But it's sweet. There's a guy at the Planet, a junior photographer named Jimmy. Actually… you might know him. He's a bar back at Ace of Clubs."

Oliver considered that. The man who had had some of Chloe's love in another life was working two jobs. Oliver was sure he could find a way to give him a leg up.

Lois paused in the act of stuffing her face with popcorn from a gigantic bowl. "Oliver… you're a good guy. Rich, charming, stupid handsome. You seem to love Chloe. You two seem destined for each other, but if you hurt her… I'll make you regret being born."

Oliver grinned, "I'd expect nothing less."

CO-CO-CO

(May, 2011) Chloe's first formal event as Oliver's fiancée, and part of the Queen family, was going to be the Black and White Ball. An annual fundraiser for the Queens' foundation, the proceeds were allocated to a particular charity each year, this year being a food sustainability program in Africa.

The weeks leading into the ball were rife with public interest in Oliver's new fiancée, including speculation on whether she would try to outdo Laura Queen in the fashion department.

Chloe knew it was a big event, knew there would be hundreds of pictures from the event that would circulate around the globe, but she had no idea what to wear, and a limited budget. Chloe usually felt pretty confident in herself and her looks, but being held up against Laura Queen and Oliver's ex-girlfriends for days on end leading into the event was giving Chloe a complex. She could suddenly understand why Ali had felt like the ugly duckling in comparison to her family. No matter how pretty she was, her mother was an icon of beauty and style. It was intimidating.

Chloe just wanted to fit in, she wasn't trying to make a statement, but she couldn't find a dress that fit the criteria and gave her that 'yes' feeling. Lois was coming with Clark, and had found a dress in the first store they'd visited.

With less than a week to the event, Chloe had a dress, but she wasn't excited about it. She kept looking, wanting something that made her feel good, but that was still something a working girl could afford. Chloe had frustrated each of the Queens, except Robert, who wanted to pay for her dress themselves, including Ali. Chloe wanted to do it on her own.

She tried to explain to Oliver that she didn't have a problem with his money, and that she would eventually have to use some of it to buy clothing to attend events like this one, but not this one.

In a way it was her debut, and she wanted it to reflect who she was, including her clothing budget.

CO-CO-CO

Chloe left another small boutique that had a good selection of vintage clothing, disappointed again. As she walked down the sidewalk, she despaired of ever finding 'the dress.' If finding a dress for the ball was this hard, she couldn't imagine looking for a wedding dress. She pondered asking Oliver to elope. A wedding on the beach with just them sounded perfect. But then she imagined her father, Lois and his family, and knew they would be disappointed.

"Ms. Sullivan?" a soft voice called to her, interrupting her thoughts. She turned to see one of the clerks from the store she'd just left, a tall woman with beautiful mocha skin and black curly hair. "I'm sorry to bother you, but I thought... you're looking for a black and white dress, right?"

"Black, white, a combo, yeah," Chloe said with a weary smile. "Did I miss a dress in your store?" Chloe asked with a smile. "'Cause I think I tried them all on."

"Not in the store, no. But I have a dress, I think you'd like, based on what you said you wanted. Elegant, simple, but something unexpected, beautiful and sexy, without being over the top." The young woman explained as Chloe listened politely. "I'm a designer, and I just finished a dress design that would look perfect on you."

Chloe shook her head. "I can't afford to pay you for a custom design."

"No, I mean, I wouldn't say no to being paid, but whatever you wear is going to be photographed and seen everywhere. That kind of publicity is worth more than any dress." The woman smiled and Chloe could see her confidence and desire to succeed in her eyes. "I promise I won't waste your time. I can bring the dress to you. Just name the time and place."

Chloe considered it. "That won't be necessary, do you have a studio space?"

The woman beamed. "Yes, actually, it's a newly converted warehouse not far from here. Queen Industries redid it last year and offered space to artists and community groups for super cheap."

Chloe smiled softly, her love for Oliver and his family's charities and community building efforts on display for anyone to see. "When should I come?"

"The ball you're going to is this Saturday right?" Chloe nodded. "If you could come tonight or tomorrow, I can get the dress fitted for you in the next two days," she continued, pondering the time constraint. She suddenly faltered and looked unsure. "Or whenever you could come, honestly, it'd be great if you wore any of my pieces at any time."

"I'm not really photographed all that much," Chloe said, wrinkling her nose.

"Sure," the woman quickly agreed, but with a tone and look that said she was humoring Chloe. "I'm Deirdre by the way. Deirdre Vaughn."

"Chloe, nice to meet you," she replied and shook the designer's hand. "I'll come tonight, I just haven't found that dress yet, you know?"

"I'm hoping to change that."

CO-CO-CO

Ali accompanied Chloe that evening, with her security in tow, and Chloe felt sure the siblings were conspiring against her. She knew that Robert and Laura were pushing for Chloe to have security now that the news of their engagement was public, but Chloe had refused.

Entering the converted warehouse, the girls looked around in wonder. There was a room full of easels, another with pottery wheels, the hallways were lined with colorful murals, and music of different genres could be heard muted by soundproofing, the sound rising and falling as doors opened and closed. A group of teenage ballerinas brushed past them in the narrow hall, then turned back to stare. "...Queen..."

They went upstairs to find Studio 211, and Deirdre opened the door with a happy grin. "Whoa," she said her smile faltering when she saw the security guards.

"I come with an entourage tonight," Chloe said in an upbeat tone, and Ali laughed. "This is Ali, and her security."

"Of course," Deirdre replied, shaking Ali's hand and giving wide berth to Ali's lead guard, Eddie, the only one who came into the smallish room with them.

Ali moved directly to a rack of clothes, while Chloe eyed some beautiful fabrics lying on a table. "These are great," Ali enthused, shifting through the hangers rapidly. Chloe had already learned that shopping was a speed event for Laura and Ali, who could go into a store, find three full outfits including shoes and accessories, spend $5000 and be out again in under thirty minutes.

"Please, pick out anything you like," Deirdre invited with a proud smile. "Chloe, this is the one I thought would be perfect for you, but I do have others." Deirdre announced as she pulled out a fitted black column dress, with a slit that ended mid-thigh to allow movement, and some horizontal black sequins to add glamour.

Chloe smiled, she liked the dress, but as Deirdre turned it around to show the back her mouth opened slightly. The back was nude mesh with a hand beaded design in black over the whole back. The design was beautiful, and on Chloe's pale skin would stand out perfectly.

"With your short hair and hourglass figure... you said you wanted something that wouldn't be an attention getter right out the door."

"You have to get it," Ali demanded, looking at the dress with envy.

"How is that not an attention getter?" Chloe asked with a smile. "It's gorgeous."

"The front is very respectable," Deirdre grinned. "And the back..."

"Is bringing sexy back," Ali offered her opinion and a bit of her humor. "Oliver will die." Chloe bit her lip and looked at the dress with longing. "Try it on," Ali urged.

"It will never fit, look at my butt," Chloe argued, her eyes still glued to the dress.

"You're between a 4 and a 6. I know from the store. If I let out the hip a bit and take in the waist, you might need a bit more room in through the chest, but I think I have a solution if you like the dress…"

"Try it on," Ali demanded. "Try it on or I'll buy it for you and send it to my mother, who will make you wear it."

"Is that a threat?" Chloe joked, kicking off her heels.

"Have you met my mother?" Ali replied deadpan.

Chloe smirked at the way Laura had managed to get both her children under her thumb and keep them there to that day. "Yes, she's very frightening."

Ali glared at Chloe, while Deirdre tried not to laugh as she zipped Chloe into the dress, behind the stand alone privacy screen. The dress trailed on the ground quite a bit and Deirdre helpfully retrieved Chloe's heels, which helped but didn't solve the problem entirely.

Chloe looked into the mirror and appeared to be in awe. The dress fit. "It will have to be taken up a few inches, and let out a bit here," she indicated Chloe's hips, "a taken in at the waist an inch and a quarter, and I think if we add a bit of the mesh..." she twisted some of the mesh into a rope and held it over the straight bodice of the dress, giving a bit more coverage to Chloe's cleavage.

"It's stunning," Chloe said softly.

"We'll take it," Ali confirmed peeking around the room divider to see Chloe in the dress. "And I'll take these three if I can," Ali asked waving a few garments at them with an unrepentant smile.

They had to argue a bit with Deirdre to get her to accept money, but in the end Chloe negotiated that they would pay for the cost of the clothing with Deirdre's time included.

As they left the studio, Ali linked her arm with Chloe's. "All you need with it are heels and a pair of earrings. Maybe a bracelet if you want, but nothing else." Ali grinned and Chloe took a moment to appreciate how happy she was. "Ollie won't be able to keep his hands off you in that dress," Ali laughed.

CO-CO-CO

Ali was right about Oliver, who nearly derailed Chloe's attempts to arrive at the ball on time.

Chloe's plan was to walk the press line with her jacket on, but Ali nixed that when she pulled the jacket from around her shoulders and handed it off to Laura's personal assistant before returning to her parents' sides for pictures. Chloe and Oliver posed by themselves then with the rest of the Queens, and by the time they made it inside, Chloe was seeing stars and needed a drink. "Who are you wearing?" the expected question was asked, and Chloe felt good giving her answer. "Deirdre Vaughn."

"She's a fresh new designer from Metropolis," Ali gushed, wearing a white Grecian dress with a black belt and a deep v in the front and back.

CO-CO-CO

They finally made it inside the venue, and Oliver disappeared to find Hal, leaving Chloe momentarily alone. Robert appeared at her side and handed her a beverage. She sipped it and smiled gratefully upon finding it was sparkling water. "It gets better from here, I promise. Laura loves the pomp of the press line, and it does garner the event more publicity, but it's a bit much for me."

Chloe smiled at him and looked around the room which had kept with the theme of black and white. The only color were the centerpieces on the tables scattered around the edges of the room, which were done in the colors of a harvest: red, green, orange and yellows. "It's beautiful, you really go all out."

"This is all Laura, I just sign the checks," Robert said ruefully. His attention was captured by his wife who was waving her hand to get his attention. "Duty calls." He paused, "You look beautiful tonight Chloe, Laura was miffed you wouldn't let her buy you a dress, but now she thinks you were just hoarding your designer." Chloe laughed and several people watched as Robert kissed her temple before walking away.

CO-CO-CO

Some time later Laura pulled Chloe away from Oliver and commanded him to find his sister. "The photographers want some pictures of the three of us girls, so hurry."

Oliver moved to do his mother's bidding, and Laura turned to Chloe. "The party is going nicely, don't you think?"

Chloe nodded her agreement. "You look stunning."

Laura smiled, and smoothed a hand down the side of her black and white mermaid dress. Designed with one shoulder, fitted to just above the knee, the white crepe dress was set off by a black lace floral overlay over one side. "Thank you, but you are the belle of the ball tonight, as it should be."

Oliver waved from the entrance to the ballroom and they could see that Ali and Hal were with them. Laura and Chloe made their way through the room, with Laura nodding and smiling at friends and acquaintances. She dipped her head low to Chloe's. "What's your impression of Hal?"

Chloe looked startled. "Hal? He's great. A good friend to Ollie."

"Yes, and very handsome, quite the hero. He has a reputation with the ladies. But I don't know if it's deserved or not."

Chloe blinked, unsure of what Laura was after. "Um, yeah, he's a bit of a ladies man, handsome, easy going, charming, but he's not a cad."

"He and Oliver have a lot in common, don't you think?"

"Sure," Chloe drawled slowly.

"And Ali loves her brother so much," Laura continued lightly and Chloe finally caught the point of the conversation.

"She's a bit young for you to be matchmaking, don't you think?" Chloe said with a cautious laugh.

"Oh of course, he's much too old for her now, but in another three or four years..."

"I..." Chloe said then broke off with another laugh. "You're diabolical."

Laura raised her chin haughtily. "I need a project, you have been my project for the last 20 years, but now that you're with us as you should be..." she smiled and turned her hawk-like gaze at her children and Hal. "Your wedding will occupy me for a bit, but I think a longer term project is just the thing." Laura looked at Chloe challengingly. "Are you in?"

"As long as it's Ali's choice in the end."

"Of course, I only want my children's happiness," Laura agreed with a happy smile.

Chloe laughed again and as they finally arrived at the door, Oliver sent her a quizzical look. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing," Chloe replied at exactly the same time that Laura did.

"Nothing," Laura said easily. "Nothing to concern yourself with."

CO-CO-CO

* * *

AN- Seriously, sorry for the delay- life is hectic at the moment. But I wanted to get this up, the chapter has less scenes than I meant, which means another chapter later to get all the rest of the story in, but… I doubt I'll hear any complaints about that.

Words 7814


	22. Ch22: Planning for the Future

_So… this is not the last chapter, there is one more. But this time I mean it, just one more. Hammock manip by Tehzo. Other poor manips done in 5 minutes by me._

* * *

**Chapter 22: Planning for the Future**

"_The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there." Leslie Poles Hartley_

(June, 2011) Chloe felt much more settled and at ease after telling Oliver the truth and the people around her could tell, though most of them attributed her glowing face and happy smile to being newly engaged.

Oliver had taken the news better than she could have hoped, and his unwavering commitment to her during her long awaited explanation had laid to rest any last doubts she'd had. Not that his unflappable acceptance meant he didn't have questions. He did, and they seemingly popped randomly into his head. At first her heart would race whenever he brought it up, but now she just grinned and appreciated the way his mind worked.

A few weeks after the black and white ball which had resulted in thousands of printed and online pictures Oliver and Chloe with the shiny new ring on her finger, Oliver had asked about his dating Lois and her dating Clark. Lois had insisted on a dinner with the two couples to celebrate their engagement, unfortunately no one but Lois seemed to truly have a good time.

Clark was tense and terse whenever he said anything, which was rarely. Oliver needled at Clark unnecessarily, their egos and differences making them uneasy allies and even worse friends. Chloe spent the meal ignoring Clark's dark looks and shooting annoyed or amused glances at Oliver for his comments to Clark. But Lois talked a mile a minute throughout the meal, filling the awkward pauses with her babbling happiness for her cousin. She easily ignored the male posturing at the table and focused on Chloe. By the end of the meal she already had verbally laid out an extensive plan for Chloe's bachelorette party, causing Chloe to laugh.

"We don't even have a date set yet, Lo."

"Well, you need to get on that, I bet you're going to have to invite like a thousand people, how many places could hold that many? Or maybe you could do what Gwen Stefani did, have multiple ceremonies. Here, Star City, maybe one someplace romantic with just your closest family and friends." Chloe started to look overwhelmed and Oliver squeezed her hand and opened his mouth to say something, but Lois kept going. "Never mind, I nix that, I want you to get married in Star City, I need a beach vacation. So nice weather months only, 'k 'cuz?"

Clark frowned at Lois now, his instinct to stick up for Chloe rearing its head. "I think Chloe can-"

"We'll figure out a date," Oliver interrupted, and Chloe glanced from Clark to Oliver in consternation. Their childish attitudes towards each other were really beginning to wear on her nerves, things were tough enough between her and Clark without Oliver chumming the waters.

Chloe smiled but looked shaky as the reality of marrying a famous billionaire set in. "We just got engaged, I haven't even considered any of this yet," Chloe said, partially to Ollie, and partially to her cousin and Clark.

"The good news is with Oliver's money you can afford a coordinator and the best of everything. Hey, about to be my 'cuz-in-law, does your family own a hotel there? Maybe they can cut us a sweet deal. Free sounds about right."

Clark looked aghast, but Oliver just grinned. Oliver leaned done to kiss Chloe's cheek, and Lois's grin grew impossibly. "You two are so cute, honestly. Adorable." She kept going, but Chloe wasn't paying attention.

Oliver had kept his mouth close to her ear and began to speak softly. "There won't be a thousand people at our wedding Chloe, unless you want a big wedding. This is our wedding, and it will be our way, my mother may be pushy, but even she won't try to make this into something you don't want."

Chloe smiled in relief and turned her face to Oliver's, tilting her head up so their lips slid against each other's briefly.

"OK, enough, seriously, break it up. Let's get dessert then you two can go home and hump like bunnies. Just not while I'm eating," Lois teased.

Oliver drove Chloe back to the Clock Tower with a thoughtful look on his face. "I can't believe I dated Lois. Well, the other me dated Lois, I would never..." He broke off at Chloe's warning look. "Not that I don't love your cousin, but..." he laughed. "She's... something."

"Lois may be loud and lack a filter, and be a little aggressive sometimes..."

"A little aggressive?"

"But she's a great cousin, and my best friend."

"I know, and I get how you two work, I just don't see how she and I would work."

Chloe shrugged lightly. "You did, then you didn't. It didn't last very long."

"It's crazy," he said, shaking his head. "And you and Clark."

She rolled her eyes and smiled. "Yes, me and Clark in three whole lives. Most of the others were with you. Get over it," she teased.

"Wait, most of the others?" He questioned, his eyes narrowing as he pulled into his parking garage and turned off the engine. "Who were you with when you weren't with me?" Chloe hesitated, and that caught Oliver's attention. "Chloe?"

"Jimmy, one other time, but it was off and on, not serious."

"And?" he pushed her for the answer she didn't want to give.

She took a deep breath and released it slowly, meeting his eyes with a careful look. "And Lex."

"_Luthor_?" he exclaimed loudly.

"Do you know another Lex?" she tried to lighten the mood.

"You were with _Lex Luthor_," he said disbelievingly. "How many times?"

She sighed. "Four times."

"Four times!" he said with wide eyes.

"Mostly when you died before I even met you," she tried to mitigate his reaction.

"Four times!"

"Yes, calm down, four times. Lex is not as bad as you think Oliver."

"So you say. I've seen the way he looks at you Chloe. It's almost the same way my parents look at you. Like you're some kind of angel sent to Earth just for him."

"He does not."

"He does."

"I treat him well, I don't judge him for his father, he respects that, and that's all Ollie."

Oliver shook his head, clearly not convinced. "Do you have feelings for him?"

Chloe looked shocked and Oliver clarified. "I know you love me Chloe. I'm not doubting that. I trust you and I know we're committed, but that doesn't mean you can't have... a soft spot for him. Like you do for Jimmy."

She relaxed. "I have a history with Lex, Ollie. We haven't talked about this yet." His face tensed and she rushed to explain. "Not a romantic past. I promise, but we were friends, then we weren't."

Oliver squeezed her hand and exited the car, opening her door for her. They went upstairs and settled in on the couch to talk.

Chloe explained about her reckless decision to work for Lionel, and how that lead to needing Lex's protection, and their partnership. Oliver couldn't believe that the Lex she had known, had gone from hiding her away for a whole summer to kidnapping her and planting a tracking devise in her shoulder.

He rubbed his finger over the scar. "I always wondered what this scar was from." It was faint now, but it was there, and with as much time as Oliver spent worshiping her body, Chloe wasn't surprised that he knew exactly which scar she meant.

"Even when he was completely off the deep end of crazy evil mastermind, there was still some bit of respect between Lex and I. Some bit of the connection from that summer." She looked at Oliver steadily. "I went into his past too. Once I'd solidified yours. I kept his mother and brother alive." Oliver looked stunned. "He deserved a chance too, Ollie. Lionel was a horrible father. Lex deserves to be loved as much as anyone else."

"And you gave that to him. Gave him his family. Like you gave me my parents and Ali. And Victor his family. You have an amazing soul Chloe."

"I'm just me Ollie."

He smiled and shook his head, pulling her into his side and he settled back into the couch to contemplate what she'd told him.

Sometime later he stirred. "I know you want to tell Ali."

"I don't want her to be the only one on the outside of this secret, Ollie."

"I know, and it's your choice, but, I think you should wait, wait until she's a bit older. Don't you remember being her age? Things come out of your mouth that you never intended."

"She's keeping your secret," Chloe pointed out.

"Yes," he smiled. "She is. I know we can trust her, but I worry that it's another burden for her to carry. She's so young still."

"She just turned 20 Ollie. She's not a baby anymore."

"She's my baby sister."

Chloe gave him an affectionate look and climbed over him to straddle his lap. "You know your cousin does have some good suggestions occasionally," he said with a leer at her cleavage and hands on her hip, rocking her against his pelvis.

"Sure, now you like her."

Oliver laughed and stood up, keeping Chloe wrapped around his waist as he walked upstairs to their bedroom.

CO-CO-CO

Later they lay wrapped in each other's arms, Chloe partially resting on his chest as they came down from their orgasms. "Ollie, should we set a date soon?"

"Probably. We should also probably send my mother a note to thank her for restraining herself thus far."

Chloe laughed, then looked down at her ring, tilting her hand side to side to make it sparkle. Oliver smiled, the feeling of contentment settling over him whenever he was with her, and especially when he got to witness her preoccupation with his ring. "You had to get a green diamond, didn't you?"

"I didn't want the other me to outdo me." She stilled meeting his eyes slowly. "The bracelet, he gave it to you." She nodded in affirmation, even though it hadn't been a question. "That stone, a green diamond, is one of a kind. My grandfather found it, mined it himself. It's a family heirloom."

Her expression was tender as she smiled at him. "I love you."

"Two times."

"What?"

"You love me two times. This me and the other me. Me and who I might have been if you'd loved me less."

She blinked back tears. "Thank you for accepting it, I know it must not be easy..."

"It's not that tough, Chloe. I'm good with it. I'm the one who's here. I get you. I have nothing to complain about." They smiled at each other and then Oliver's lips crinkled around the edges. "Unless you try to delay the wedding until next summer, then I might complain."

Chloe looked confused. "Next summer?"

"Doesn't it take months to plan a wedding?"

Chloe shrugged, "I guess. So, this summer would be rushing it, and..."

"Next summer is too long."

"Why does it have to be summer?" she questioned.

Oliver considered that. "I don't know. Maybe a fall wedding? Thanksgiving?"

"No, then we'd never have any time alone on our anniversary," she decided.

Ollie grinned and palmed her ass, rolling them over so he was resting between her thighs, his hand rising to cup her breast gently. "I like the way you think." He dipped down to nuzzle her neck and other breast and murmured something that she couldn't understand. When he finally raised his head up to kiss her she was breathless.

"What did you say?"

"New years. A new years eve wedding. Does that work for you?"

"Yes."

"Hmm, I like that word."

She giggled as he kissed her neck again, her hand's kneading the firm muscles of his back. "Married for a year maybe two, then we'll start trying for our first kid. How many do you want?"

"You want to discuss this now?" she gasped as he rubbed against her sensitive core.

"Two or three?" he grinned.

"Sure," she moaned, as his mouth went back to her breasts and she lifted her legs to wrap around his waist, aligning their bodies.

"Then we're settled," he declared as he slid into her warmth.

CO-CO-CO

The next time Oliver brought up her past, it was curiosity about himself that drove him. "At the risk of you accusing me of being vain, egotistical and self centered…" he grinned.

She scoffed at his introduction, "Vain, yes. Egotistical, always. Self centered? Not so much."

He popped his finger on her nose and kissed her forehead then slid onto her desk at Watchtower, the two of them alone there at the moment with several computers humming in the background. "What was I, the other me, like? I know you said he was darker, but… sometimes you make it sound like he was a completely different person, and sometimes you refer to him as me."

She bit her lip but didn't hesitate to answer him. "In some ways you are the same, or very similar. In others…" she shook her head. "You were still a hero, you put the team together. You met Victor first, found him on the street when he was down on his luck after everything happened and he and Katherine broke up."

"I met Victor when he ripped the door off a car at an accident scene in Coast City."

She smiled. "And you found Bart after you saw an invisible man steal a hotdog from a street vendor."

Oliver laughed. "Yeah, that one is the same."

"And you found AC during a mission. You were both there to stop toxic polluters in China."

"Yep. He was about to be canned into-"

"A thousand tuna cans. I know."

"Even our jokes are the same?" he asked, somewhat perplexed.

"Lois has a theory-"

"Oh God," he said with a scared expression.

She slapped his arm. "Stop, her theory is that we're all who we are, that our core personalities don't really change, but that maybe some sides get magnified by our circumstances."

"So even though this life is different, it's also the same."

"Yeah. You also had Hal. And were frenimies with Bruce."

"Bruce? Guys don't have frenimies, baby, that's a girl invention."

She shot him an unimpressed look at his wit. "What would you call it? You collaborated, but were constantly competing with each other. You took pleasure in each other's difficulties, but still acted like allies." He shrugged and she returned to his original question. "You were like you, but harder, darker, more go-it-alone. You had friends, and of course you were the famous, rich, playboy you, but you always seemed alone, disconnected. Not that it was always bad. You followed your own ideals, you made mistakes but you always picked yourself back up." She narrowed her eyes at him playfully. "Though, sometimes, you did need a little nudge."

"Which you helpfully provided," he guessed.

"I did my best," she said with an impish smile.

"And did I require a hospital visit or therapy after your 'nudges'?"

She grinned. "No, maybe a long weekend to recover, but no hospital."

"Huh," he said with arched eyebrows, then sobered. "But he had you. He loved you."

"Yeah, but… I was darker there too Ollie. And it was hard for me to accept him what he was offering, in the beginning. I didn't want an emotional connection, it was just supposed to be… a tension release."

"We were fuck buddies?" he asked incredibly.

"Yes and no. I thought we were friends with benefits. You were… easing me into-"

"Loving me?" he provided helpfully. Recalling his own strategy to strengthen her good feelings for him in this life before asking her out on their first date.

She laughed. "Sometimes you are so like your mother." Oliver frowned. "You know you went through this one period where you were all dark leather and stubble," she stroked his ego, her face showing that she thought that look was a good one for him.

"Leather and whiskers does it for you, huh?" he teased, pulling her out of her chair and into his arms.

"I wouldn't complain," she said, then kissed him.

It was not the first time that Victor caught them with most of their clothes off in Watchtower. But he sincerely hoped it was the last. Ollie he could care less about seeing naked, but it was hard to look at Chloe after seeing her naked body and keep his thoughts focused and platonic.

CO-CO-CO

Chloe walked along the beach in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, her sandals hanging from one hand as the waves wet her feet on Star Beach. She'd flown out to Star City with Ali for the weekend to visit Oliver and his parents. Oliver had been spending more and more of his time in Star City as Robert implemented the next step in his long drawn out plan to retire. The plan involved an incremental shifting of projects and responsibilities to Oliver, already in motion, which meant Ollie spent less of his time in Metropolis.

Chloe couldn't complain. She had her dream job, lived in a beautiful home, was engaged to her dream guy, and had her family (and his) and her friends. But she missed Oliver when he was away. Their wedding was six months away, and work and wedding plans kept her busy but she found herself thinking about something that two years ago would have been unimaginable: quitting her job at the Daily Planet.

Chloe had started researching the publications in Star City and knew which one she'd want to go to. Chloe wanted to talk to Oliver about it on this trip. She looked up towards the boardwalk, noticing a few photographers taking her picture. That would be one of the downfalls of moving to Oliver's home town. The Queens were known worldwide, but here in Star City, they were royalty. And Chloe was the newest to-be member of the clan.

The tabloid media intrusion into their lives had really ramped up after the engagement was announced, and hadn't really let up yet. In Metropolis it wasn't as bad, but Chloe still had a hard time with it and it interfered with her job.

She checked the time on her watch and headed back towards QI's offices, pausing to talk to the photographers. Laura always talked to the ones who stayed at a distance, respecting her space somewhat, and had a good relationship with them for that reason. Chloe wanted to cultivate that same kind of goodwill.

She was supposed to have lunch with Oliver, but some emergency or another had delayed him. As she arrived back in the air conditioned lobby of QIs headquarters she wondered how Ollie did it all. He worked long days at the office, then patrolled most nights and flew back to Metropolis to see her at least once every three or four days. It must be exhausting.

"Ms. Sullivan," one of the receptionists called out. "I'm sorry, Mr. Queen asked me to tell you he can't get free, if you'd like I can order you something from his favorite deli."

"Has he eaten?"

"Not that I know of," the receptionist replied.

"I'll get something for us both."

Chloe followed the given directions to Oliver's favorite deli a few blocks away and the Greek man behind the counter told her he knew exactly what to get for Mr. Queen. Chloe smiled, not surprised that Oliver was well known and liked here. Returning to the upper floors of QI, Chloe found Oliver having an intense conversation in German over the phone with Robert pacing nearby. She quietly set out lunch, spreading the items she'd gotten, enough for the three of them and a few more, and waited.

Finally the conversation ended, and Oliver seemed satisfied with the outcome. Chloe wished that she'd kept her Brainiac ability to speak all Earth's languages, but alas it was not to be.

"Good job Oliver," Robert offered supportively. "They'll think twice before selling us inferior product in the future."

"It's not good enough." Oliver replied, coming over to Chloe and squeezing her shoulder and sitting down beside her before pressing a kiss to lips. "If we hadn't done our own testing we never would have know that batch of concrete was below spec. The building could have collapsed, killing hundreds of our workers."

"But we did test it, at your insistence, and no one got hurt." Robert sat across from Chloe and picked up a falafel. "Take the wins where you can get them Oliver. Someone will always try to make a bit more profit off of our deals, the only thing we can do is be vigilant, and build good relationships with people so they want to work with us, not against us." He smiled at Chloe. "Sorry to ruin your lunch plans."

"Yeah, Chloe..." Oliver began, but she shushed him with a hand on his knee.

"It's fine, I promise. I took a walk on the beach. It's really beautiful here," she said sincerely, and saw some of the tension in Oliver's shoulders ease.

"I'm sorry about the timing, my upcoming retirement requiring more of Oliver's time be spent here, right when you two got engaged. What are your plans for after you're married?" Robert asked.

Oliver picked up his hummus wrap and began eating gratefully, but paused to respond to his father. "We haven't fully decided. Chloe's job is in Metropolis, I may look at switching some of the day to day runnings of QI to the Midwest office. Spend Monday through Wednesday here, then fly back to Metropolis for the rest of the week."

Chloe bit her lip. "Actually I was thinking about looking for jobs here this week."

Oliver looked surprised. "But the Daily Planet is your dream."

"It's a job, Ollie. No more, no less." His look clearly called bullshit on her dismissal and she smiled. "Working at the Daily Planet was my dream job when I was a kid and my thoughts were only full of work and ambition. Life has taken me off course more than once, and now... I'm not going to deny that I love working there, but I don't love it more than I love you."

"I don't want you to give up anything for me," Oliver insisted.

Chloe looked exasperated. "But it's OK for you to run yourself ragged for me? It's called compromise Oliver. I was always planning to move here after the wedding anyways," she glanced at Robert who was clearly listening but trying to not butt in. "Now, maybe I'll just move a bit sooner than planned."

"But..."

"I miss you," she said simply. "I can work anywhere, but you're just one person and your life and your work are here."

Oliver gave her a stubborn look and Chloe smiled slightly, then turned to Robert. "How did you and Laura manage to make it work all these years? Your job is demanding, and you had Lionel to worry about. Did she do all the giving, and you all the taking?"

Robert smirked at Chloe and Oliver scoffed. "Of course not."

"As if Laura would allow that to happen," Robert gave the answer Chloe had known he would. "Every marriage is full of compromise. I suppose I was lucky that Laura dedicated herself to charity and didn't have a scheduled job that would complicate our time together. While I do think that while your plan would work, Oliver, it would not be something you could sustain, and moving any QI operations would involve asking some key staff to relocate with you."

"As good as the Star City papers are, they are not the Daily Planet. Chloe's worked hard for her career," Oliver argued.

"It's my choice Ollie," Chloe said stubbornly. "As your father said, take the win. Unless you don't want me here," she taunted.

"Of course I want you here," he replied knowing he was being manipulated outright and earned a triumphal grin.

"Then it's settled," she said happily.

Robert laughed and Oliver shot a glare at his father.

After Robert left, Oliver turned to Chloe, concern clear on his face. "Chloe, we should talk about this."

"Then talk. But this is going to be my home Ollie. This is where we're going to raise our children. Working here is just another part of that. Besides, I can be a world class reporter anywhere. The Star City Register has been challenging the LA Times for dominance in the California market, and I think I can help with that."

"I'm not questioning what they would get out of it," he began but Chloe cut him off.

"Flatterer," she said and stretched up onto her toes to give him a kiss.

CO-CO-CO

(July, 2011) Chloe had been in Star City for a week, taking a few vacation days, and interviewing at the Star City Register. She was ready to make the move to Star City - if she could secure a position at the Register. She could go to the Star City Daily News, but they carried a much higher amount of entertainment news, which didn't appeal to Chloe. She'd submitted her resume under a fake name, getting the DP human resources staff and editor to go along with her being "Nellie Bly."

She'd had to call a few times to get her interview set up, but they had offered her an interview based off her resume and not her connection to the Queens. She wanted the job on her own merit, and knew that the editor would likely recognize her as soon as she sat down for her interview.

She was dressed in her best suit as she entered the Register's offices, and caught a few looks from the staff there who recognized her. Waiting for her interview time, she vacillated between being sure they would hire her for being Oliver's fiancée, and being sure they would not hire her once she told them the bad news. Chloe had drawn a firm line between her personal and professional life. The editor at the Daily Planet had railed at Chloe when she'd refused to use her connection to Robert and Oliver to get the story (any Queen related story), and she couldn't imagine any editor being happy with her decision.

"Ms. Bly?" The editor's assistant said with a knowing smile, inviting Chloe to follow him into the conference room where her interview would be held. Chloe sat and accepted the offer for a cup of water, wiping sweaty palms discreetly on her skirt. "I didn't tell the editor who you really are, but she'll know," he informed her.

"Thanks," Chloe smiled.

"Alright, we'll have to rush this, I'm in a time crunch," the editor said her eyes looking over Chloe's résumé and not looking at Chloe as she entered the room. "Ms. Bly... Nellie Bly?" her head popped up and she paused, recognition on her face. "I see."

Chloe stood and offered her hand to the editor, "I apologize for the subterfuge. I wanted to earn the interview based on my work."

The editor sat and raised a skeptical eyebrow at Chloe, who also took her seat. "A good reporter uses whatever means are available to them to get the story."

Chloe had hoped not to address the elephant in the room until the end of the interview, but she dove in anyway. "I have quite a few means available to me, but none that come from my relationship with Oliver," Chloe stated firmly.

"Is he as good looking up close as he is in pictures?" the editor asked absently. "Never mind, of course he is." She gave Chloe a shrewd look. "Let's have it."

"I want the job. I'm a good reporter, my work attests to that. But I won't use my relationship with the Queens to get you stories about them."

"We both know the Queens will be more open to interview and story requests from whatever publication you end up going to."

"Probably, but I won't be coming in to work each day with a quote from one of them about a story we're running."

"So you won't use your influence directly, but you don't mind if other staff try to trade on your name?" the editor asked.

"Go for it," Chloe smiled challengingly.

"Alright, let's talk about your story about the mayor, former mayor of Metropolis, courtesy of your story about his under the table land deals. How'd you get the story?"

Chloe went over what had tipped her off, her process for pursuing the details, and finally, an anonymous informant (Oliver) coming to her with the proof.

"And you were actually kidnapped during your pursuit of his chief of staff, correct?"

"Yes."

"And yet you still kept after it until you got what you needed to tie the mayor to the bribe? Impressive." She looked down, shifting through a few more of Chloe's stories, then looked up again. "How'd you get out of it?"

"The kidnapping?" Chloe hesitated, "Oh, uh, a local hero saved me."

"A vigilante? We have one here, actually, he's been in Metropolis quite a bit too."

"Yes, the Green Arrow, I know. I believe you've also had regular sightings of a few other heroes."

"Our crime reporter insists on calling them vigilantes. I think he's just bitter that he has less to report on. Saying what plan was foiled is not as fun as reporting on how the police failed and the criminals got away with it."

"But the city is safer," Chloe said lightly.

"Yes, good for raising my kids, bad for circulation."

Chloe laughed.

CO-CO-CO

"How'd it go?" Laura asked Chloe as exited Queen Manner into the native plant garden Laura maintained on one side of the house. Laura was wearing casual clothing, a large sun hat and garden gloves.

"Good, I think. I hope. I liked the editor."

"They'd be lucky to have you," Laura said in a proud motherly tone, pulling the gloves off so she could wrap her arm around Chloe and lead her to a shady table with iced tea already waiting for them.

Chloe smiled modestly, and changed the subject. "I didn't know you gardened."

"Do you know who gardens, Chloe?" Chloe shook her head. "Anyone who can."

Chloe smiled. "Well, you seem to have a green thumb."

"What I have is a passion, a vision, some time, and a full time gardener," Laura laughed.

Chloe joined her laughter. "It's beautiful, really. Amazing. It's like a little piece of paradise."

"Thank you, but it is looking its best at the moment. A photographer just came to do a pictorial on it."

"For what magazine?"

"I'm not sure, it was a freelance photographer," Laura said airily.

Chloe frowned. Something wasn't right with it. A freelance photographer was allowed into the Queen's home, without a magazine spread already booked? "Who was the photographer?"

"What, dear?" Laura asked with an air of distraction that Chloe knew was put on for her benefit. Laura Queen had the attention of a raptor.

"His name."

"James, I believe."

"James." Chloe's lips tightened then slowly stretched into a big smile. "Jimmy. Jimmy Olsen. Oliver asked you to do it?"

Laura turned to hand Chloe a glass of tea and gave her a serious look. "You're not alone anymore Chloe, if you feel you want to do more things, make more things right, without going back in time, we're all here to help. This was Oliver's way of helping."

"I know I'm not alone anymore," Chloe smiled with tears in her eyes as she let Laura hug her. "My family has grown exponentially. Sometimes it's hard to deal with, I think my default is still to handle things on my own."

"We'll help you grow out of that," Laura grinned as she released Chloe, but kept an arm around her waist. "You're already a daughter to me Chloe, and I'm sure my children have conveyed to you how much harder it will be on you if you try to fight me."

"Yes, they've given me a few testimonials about your… mothering skills. But, I assure you, I'm made of hardy stuff." Laura laughed and Chloe joined in. "Besides I thought you were focused on Ali and Hal now."

"Oh, my dear, I have enough time and attention to devote to each of my children."

CO-CO-CO

"_Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city." George Burns_

(July, 2011) By the time July rolled around, Chloe had made the move to Star City. She'd given her two weeks notice to the Daily Planet the day she received the formal offer from The Star City Register. She moved two days after her last day at work in Metropolis, despite Lois's heartfelt protests.

Clark was quieter with his opinion, but when he found himself alone with Chloe for a few minutes as she packed up the items she was taking to Star City with her, he awkwardly put his hand on her shoulder. "I wish you weren't going, I can't help but feel like I'm losing you again."

"I'm sorry Clark. I know you lost your Chloe, but I can't be her. This move is the right thing for me, but I hope we can get to know each other again as we are now," Chloe offered an olive branch.

"I'd like that. And I know that I wouldn't have had the life I've had, the friendship we had, if it wasn't for you."

Chloe gave him a serious look. "Lois told you what it was like where I came from." He nodded. "I kinda wish she hadn't. I worry about the timeline… maybe I messed something up."

"Lois said that all of us have better lives because of you, whatever you did, you had the right intentions," Clark brushed off her concerns.

"The path to hell…" she said lightly.

"We all have to make hard decisions, Chloe. Some good, some bad. I chose not to tell Lois who I really was, and you forced my hand. My decision, however good my intentions, was wrong. Lois accepted it…" he shook his head, "so easily. And I have you to thank for pushing me into it."

She gave him an impish smile and opened her arms wide for a hug. Clark smiled at her but gave Chloe a knowing look as he folded her into his arms.

"We're still going to have our Wednesday morning runs. I can be in Star City in less than five minutes if you ever need me," Clark said and Chloe groaned stepping back from him.

"Well, since we're being all touchy feely and Star City is just a hop, skip and a jump for you…" she smiled awkwardly. "You should come to Oliver's birthday party next weekend."

"Chloe…" he demurred.

"He's turning 30. The big three oh." She smiled at him hopefully. "He's going to be my husband, Clark. It would be nice if you two could be friends. Or at least civil."

He sighed.

CO-CO-CO

A week days before his birthday, Oliver had an appointment with his lawyer to sign a new will that he'd had drawn up several weeks prior. "Oliver, good to see you," his personal lawyer and friend. "All the things you wanted updated are there, primarily leaving most of your estate and possessions to Chloe."

"Good," Oliver said, flipping through the pages quickly, pausing to read a few things more closely.

"And your… uh, unusual request is in there as well, on the last page."

Oliver flipped to the end and read the section over. "Perfect, and thanks for not asking too many questions."

"It has to be the weirdest request I've ever had, but you seem sure."

"I am." Oliver read the section in question one more time then signed the last page. The brief section instructed his descents to add the same section to their wills until such a time that the request was fulfilled.

CO-CO-CO

Oliver said that he didn't care what they did for his birthday, but suggested that they be low-key, insisting that he was more interested in taking Chloe out to let her get to know her way around Star City better than have a party. But Chloe wanted to celebrate his birthday, 30 was a milestone, and a party would be a good way for Chloe to meet the rest of Oliver's friends in Star City.

Rather than the pressure of holding a party at her new home of only two weeks, Chloe asked Hal which restaurant she should book for Oliver's birthday dinner, and where to go afterwards. Hal recommended a few clubs, but Chloe really wanted Ali to be included the whole night, and since Ali was too young to get into a club legally, Chloe decided to look for a space they could book for a private party.

Laura was more than happy to take Chloe around Star City to show her some options, and Chloe fell in love with a rooftop garden that reminded her of their first date. She even decided to wear the same dress that she'd worn then.

CO-CO-CO

Ali and Hal helped with the guest list as did Oliver's secretary. In the end the dinner was for a small intimate group, and the party afterwards had a guest list of just over 75 people. Ali, Hal, the rest of the team, Lois, Clark and a bunch of Oliver's other friends going as far back as Excelsior were invited.

Spending a few hours with Ali and Hal, Chloe couldn't help but see that there was real chemistry and caring between those two. Laura called that evening demanding a report from Chloe on their interaction. Chloe kept her tone and face straight as she said that as far as she could tell they liked each other, but it was very much a brother-sister relationship.

Laura seemed disappointed, but didn't let it deter her from her plan. It might take a bit longer than she'd thought, but Laura Queen wasn't a quitter. She'd work her magic and if Ali and Hal didn't develop deeper feelings then she'd give in gracefully. At least that's what she promised herself.

CO-CO-CO

The dinner went well, with just close family and friends in attendance. Of course Laura tried to seat Ali next to Hal but she was thwarted by Ali and Lois. Oliver sat at the head of the table with Chloe to one side and Hal next to her, and Ali to Oliver's other side, then Lois and Clark. Also at the table were Victor, AC, Roy Harper, and Robert and Laura. Bart had opted out after a long consideration. The draw of free food lost out to having to sit still and behave for longer than 15 minutes.

Oliver and Chloe held hands throughout the meal unless they were actively eating, and Oliver's thumb stroked over her left ring finger which his ring adorned. Laura beamed throughout the meal, while Robert's happiness was more contained.

He looked around the table in contemplation. His son, the bow and arrow wielding hero. Oliver's fiancé, a time traveler who had previously had the power to bring people back to life. His son's best friend who wielded an alien ring of power and often had to leave the planet to attend to "off world" business, not that Robert was supposed to know about any of the heroes at the table except for Chloe. Ali, his beautiful daughter, who they only had because of Chloe's love for Oliver. Lois, Chloe's cousin, General Lane's daughter and confident of The Blur. Clark Kent, alien, hero, adopted son of a state senator, and the one who had set so many events in motion, without even being aware. AC, Victor and Roy, all heroes with extraordinary stories and abilities. And the love of his life, Laura, who made each day an adventure and who had given him his two beautiful children.

Soon, he thought, soon he'd have grandchildren to dote on as he entered the next phase of his life: retirement. Robert couldn't have asked for a better life. He raised his glass and stood up, silencing the conversation at the table. "Today is a momentous day, the 30th anniversary of the day that Laura gave me one of the two greatest gifts in my life, our son, Oliver. I wasn't sure Oliver would ever settle down, but it seems he just needed to find the right girl to motivate him." Everyone laughed and Chloe smiled brightly. "Oliver, I've never been more proud of you than I am today."

He raised his glass high. "To Laura for giving me Ollie, to Ollie for not giving me a heart attack just yet and for giving us Chloe, and to Chloe who is already my daughter in my heart. Cheers!"

"Cheers!" everyone echoed and drank.

CO-CO-CO

"_When your mother asks, "Do you want a piece of advice?" it's a mere formality.  
It doesn't matter if you answer yes or no. You're going to get it anyway." Erma Bombeck_

Robert and Laura came to the party afterwards, but stayed in the background not wanting to inhibit the revelry. "Why are we here, Laur? This is clearly for the young people," Robert complained.

"Hush, you can survive a few hours."

"A few hours?" He narrowed his eyes at his wife. "What are you up to?"

"Currently? Celebrating the culmination of 36 hours of labor."

"What are you really up to?" He followed her gaze to where Ali and Hal were standing close together in conversation. "Please no," he said in realization.

"Can you think of someone better for her?" Laura challenged, not bothering with denials or deflection.

"Currently? No, but she's 20 so I figure I have about ten years for that."

"Ten years?" Laura ripped her gaze from her daughter and saw the alarmed look on her husband's face. "You and Ollie are too much. She's on the cusp of adulthood now. I'm not going to push them to be together anytime soon, but I think there is a potential there, and wouldn't that be perfect? Ali with Oliver's best friend?"

"Perfect for whom?"

"For Ali and Oliver. Can you imagine how he would treat any other guy she found and wanted to marry? But he loves Hal, trusts him, respects him. So I repeat: perfect."

Her rapt gaze changed to an annoyed glare as Chloe passed in front of her vision. "Hrumpt."

"What now?" Robert asked in amusement.

"Chloe told me that they were just friends. Brother and sister, even. The little liar."

Robert laughed deeply and shot an amused smile at Chloe. "I knew I loved that girl."

Laura transferred her sour look to him, then turned away, smashing her lips tightly to keep her smile under wraps. Chloe really was the perfect addition to their family.

CO-CO-CO

"_There's no other love like the love for a brother.__  
__There's no other love like the love from a brother."__Astrid Alauda_

Sometime later Oliver saw Clark standing apart from the rest of the guests. Chloe, Ali and Lois were seated not far from him on a couch discussing wedding plans and fashion or mobsters and drug runners. With those three you could never be sure. Oliver got another drink from the open bar then wandered casually in Clark's direction.

"Hey, Boy Scout, enjoying the party?"

"Yes, thanks for inviting me," Clark said with force civility, biting his tongue at the nickname Oliver had bestowed on him.

Oliver smirked. "We both know that it was Chloe who invited you, and Chloe who you came for." Clark shrugged, not denying it. "I think we should start over."

Clark shot Oliver a disbelieving look. "Start over?"

"We may have gotten off on the wrong foot."

"Why now?" Clark asked suspiciously.

"For one, we won't be in the same city very often. You know what they say about absence." Clark stared at him and Oliver resisted the urge to walk away. "You could try a little, you know. Chloe is your friend, but she's going to be my wife. I'd rather she not be caught between us, so we should work on getting along. Find some common ground. Like we both think Chloe is great. We both think Lois is a handful."

"Hey," Clark protested.

Oliver merely raised one amused and challenging eyebrow. "We both want to do good in the world."

"Fine. We can at least be civil."

"Was that so hard?" Oliver joked.

"Yes."

"For once we agree."

"Chloe is my best friend, and I'm not going to disappear from her life just because you moved her..."

"She moved herself, I didn't ask or force her to do anything," Oliver said sharply.

Clark hesitated, then nodded. "I'm going to miss her." Oliver nodded in understanding. "OK, so we start over. Does that mean you'll stop calling me Boy Scout?"

"Not a chance, but if you wanted to work towards that goal, there is something you could do for me," Oliver said.

"What?"

Oliver's eyes went to his sister. "Look after Ali."

Clark smiled. "I can do that."

"Not just when she's in trouble, but look in on her, check out any boyfriends she may be keeping secret, and friends who aren't good for her."

"Spy on her?" Clark asked with judgment in his tone.

"You don't have a sister, you don't know," Oliver said poignantly, then gave Clark a shrewd look. "Actually... imagine how you feel about Chloe now. Then multiply that times ten. That's how I feel about Ali's safety and happiness."

"I'll check in on her."

"Thanks, Clark."

CO-CO-CO

* * *

Words 7564

View from Oliver's Star City penthouse: pinterest dot com /pin/282741682825736967/

Inspiration for Queen Manner: pinterest dot com /pin/282741682825702779/


	23. Ch23: Happily Ever After

_Alright, so for real, this is the last chapter. I've loved this story, I hope you have too. Thanks for everyone who reviewed. Reviews are the only way to know people are reading and enjoying otherwise it's like writing in a vacuum. If a tree falls in a forest and all that._

_In the reviews for the last Chapter a guest reviewer said my Clark in this story wasn't much of an a-hole. Maybe because he was barely in the story._

_There will be more to this story, but I don't know when…_

* * *

**Chapter 23: Happily Ever After**

(June, 2011) Chloe's first day at the Star City Register rolled arrived with butterflies in her stomach. She awoke abruptly and rolled away from Oliver to lie on her back. Chloe was confident in her ability as a reporter, but everyone she met that day would only ever know her as Oliver Queen's fiancée or in a few months, his wife. Never Chloe Sullivan. She'd never be anonymous again. Never be judged solely on her own virtue an ability again.

Oliver rolled over and his hand automatically sought out her warmth, sliding up her side to cup her breast. She checked and could tell from his breathing that he was still mostly asleep, but he was already making her pulse race. She shifted to her side and skimmed her hand down his chest to rest on his lower stomach.

His breathing quickened and his eyelids fluttered before opening to reveal warm brown eyes. "Hmm, good morning," he murmured. His hand went back to stroking her, sliding down her side, repeating the trip in the curve of her waist then up over the flare of her hips, only to continue around to grasp her butt and pull her closer to his side.

"Every morning I wake up with you is a good morning," Chloe replied.

Oliver smiled and pulled her into a kiss. Chloe reciprocated and melted into his hard body, knowing that any difficulties at her new job were worth it, if the reward was getting to be with Oliver every day.

Oliver managed to soothe away her nerves but they returned as she showered in Oliver's large beautiful bathroom. With one wall of floor to ceiling windows, like the rest of the penthouse exterior walls, it had a fantastic view of the city and park below. Chloe had taken advantage of the large circular bath tub often since she'd moved, but she had no time that morning. She needed to get dressed, mainline some coffee and get to work.

Getting dressed in a black pencil skirt and silky black shell top, she spared another glance outside to note that the famed coastal onshore flow had indeed appeared that morning making the skies grey. She knew that the day would warm and clear, but she slipped her arms into a green button up cardigan. Easing her toes into a pair of black and green heels, and grabbing a black bag Chloe brushed back her now shoulder length hair and blew out a breath. She was ready.

Stepping into the large open concept kitchen she found Oliver waiting for her with a muffin, a cup of fruit and a cup of coffee, another in a travel cup waiting on the counter. "This isn't why I love you," she teased, as she accepted the cup from his hands. "But it doesn't hurt."

Oliver grinned and looked her over with appreciative eyes. "And you wearing green reminds me of how much I love that you're mine." He dipped his head down to kiss her then lowered his voice suggestively. "Tonight, I'm taking you out to celebrate."

"Are you asking me on a date, Mr. Queen?"

"I am, Mrs. Queen."

"Um-uh. Not yet. I'm still Ms. Sullivan, how can I take your offer seriously if you don't even know who you're asking out."

"I know you."

CO-CO-CO

The paparazzi followed them to dinner that night and Chloe was glad she'd changed into a bright coral-red skirt that she'd bought from Deidre, which she paired with a little white tank top, a tan short waisted leather coat, and nude heels.

"No green tonight?" Oliver asked, trying to make it a complaint, but his eyes were glued to the helping of cleavage on display.

She smirked and reentered her closet to emerge with a green clutch. "Better?"

"Much," he agreed, pulling her into his arms and kissing her. When his hand moved upwards to cup her breast she pushed him away with a laugh.

"There will be time for that later," she promised.

"What's wrong with having an appetizer before dinner, then dessert later on?" Oliver asked as he stalked her through the living room.

"Nothing." He grinned and stepped forward to gather his prize, but she planted a firm hand in the middle of his chest, keeping him at a distance. "Except, I just got dressed, I'm hungry and I've had a long day."

Oliver looked disappointed and Chloe laughed. "You're good for my ego, you know that?"

_Chloe outfit: pinterest dot com /pin/282741682825719463/ or go to LJ for the link in the story._

CO-CO-CO

(July, 2011) The Queen's 35 Wedding Anniversary was just a week after Oliver's birthday and, of course, Laura had planned a party. Chloe stood in her new closet in Oliver's Star City penthouse, then smiled and corrected her own errant thought. Their penthouse. Their home. The Clock Tower in Metropolis had felt like home to her, but she was still working on getting that same feeling of comfort and belonging here.

She frowned and looked through her meager clothing one more time before sighing. She loved her clothes, but the closet dwarfed them and there was nothing there that she wanted to wear to the anniversary party. Releasing another deep sigh, Chloe walked barefoot to the kitchen and picked up the house phone to call Ali.

"Hello?" Ali said cheerfully.

"Hey Ali, it's Chloe."

"What's up?"

"I think I need a new outfit…"

"I'll be there in 15 minutes," Ali said and hung up before Chloe could say anything more.

CO-CO-CO

When Ali showed up she had her mother in tow. Ali was dressed in short tweed grey shorts with a flowy white long sleeved top and grey ankle boots. Laura was wearing cream colored wide legged slacks with a crisp pleat and a loose white men's style button down collared shirt. Both looked like they'd stepped out of a fashion magazine. Chloe looked down at her own outfit which consisted of jeans and a yellow summer top. "Ah, give me a minute to change…"

"You look fine, but if you'd like," Laura said, looking around Oliver's home. Chloe retreated to the bedroom and grabbed a grey dress and dressed it up with a pair of green heels Oliver had bought her that had a strap that around her ankles a few times.

"Thanks for coming, I think I need to get some dresses for events and maybe a few work outfits that haven't been photographed already," Chloe called out loudly.

Ali looked at her mother who raised an eyebrow and shared a conspiratorial smile with her daughter. "And maybe a bit more than that," she said softly causing Ali to laugh.

"Where's Oliver today, Chloe?" Ali called out loudly.

Chloe came back into the living room. "He's out with Hal… doing something," she finished vaguely.

Ali smiled her eyes brightening a bit. "Oh?"

"Yeah, I think he might stay over tonight." Ali tried to look uninterested, and Laura shot an amused look at Chloe. "If we do something for dinner, maybe you could join us," Chloe offered casually.

"Could be fun," Ali offered noncommittally, and Chloe grinned.

_Ali's outfit: /pin/274367802269226886/_

_Laura's outfit: /pin/282741682826309570/_

_Chloe's outfits: /jenwin23/chlollie-fashion/ then /pin/282741682826543304/ with /pin/282741682826298978/_

CO-CO-CO

"_Your sacred space is where you can find yourself again and again." Joseph Campbell_

Returning to the penthouse later with more bags than Chloe thought possible, she fell into an exhausted lump on the couch. "I'm never shopping with you two again," Chloe murmured grumpily as she watched two more of the building staff carry boxes and bags into the room as well.

Laura tipped the two men, who nodded in deference and left quickly. "You don't mean that Chloe, and you can't be angry with me wanting to spoil you a bit."

"A bit? That," she waved at the pile of boxes and bags, "qualifies as _a bit_?"

"Yes," Laura said simply. "You needed a few things, now you just need to add to your wardrobe as events demand or as you see things you like."

Chloe's head fell back to rest on the back of the couch.

Ali grinned. "Wait until Christmas," Ali threatened, earning a groan from Chloe.

Oliver and Hal emerged from somewhere in the penthouse and were greeted warmly with hugs from Ali and Laura, but Chloe stayed on the couch.

"Long day?" Oliver said in sympathy, dropping down to sit beside her.

"You have no idea. Your mother is out of control."

"I knew that," Oliver laughed. "I think I might have something to make you feel better." She rolled her head to look at him with a sad face, her bottom lip poking out in a pout. "Come with me." She shook her head and he grinned. "OK…" He pushed his arms under her and stood up with her in his arms, causing her to shriek and wrap her arms around his neck.

"Ollie," she complained.

"You didn't want to get up."

She laughed at he easily carried her down the hall back towards the bedrooms. Hal, Laura and Ali followed them and from their grins Chloe knew that they were all in on it together. Oliver opened the door to the bedroom next to his den and carried Chloe inside.

"What?" she said softly in confusion, looking around at the room, now empty except for a table in the middle which was covered with furniture catalogues, paint swatches in bright colors and wallpaper books.

"I wanted you to have your own space here. Welcome to your new den."

"I prefer Chloe cave," Ali piped in happily.

"You can do whatever you want in here, and once you get it situated how you like, we can redo the rest of the penthouse."

"You don't have to do that Ollie," Chloe demurred.

"This is our home, I want you to feel like it's _our_ home. Not just mine," Oliver insisted.

"Ollie," she shook her head still not ready to accept his offer, but feeing all mushy inside that he had known how she was feeling without her telling him.

"_Or…_ I'm sure my mother would be happy to head up a full remodel," he threatened, and the mushiness Chloe was feeling suddenly turned sour.

"I was thinking about how I should show my gratitude, but not so much now."

Everyone laughed, and Chloe suddenly remembered they had an audience.

CO-CO-CO

_"A happy marriage is a long conversation which always seems too short." Andre Maurois_

The Queens' anniversary party was held at the Manner, with over 100 guests. Chloe was overwhelmed by the number of introductions but everyone there with very few exceptions seemed to know Robert and Laura. A few up and coming Star City politicians and movers and shakers had been invited to what was easily one of the social events of the summer but otherwise it seemed to be a gathering of friends.

Laura was beautiful in a pale green cocktail dress, Robert in a slate gray suit. Chloe had been nearly blinded by flashes when she'd exited the car with Oliver. She knew she was taking a bit of a fashion risk, but she needed to define herself separately from Laura who was the personification of formal elegance. She knew how Ali had struggled with her self image in comparison to her family and Chloe was determined not to fall into that trap. Chloe liked elegant, she liked Laura's style, but she was younger, funkier, and wanted to be herself.

Chloe's curves were encased in a black and silver sequined skirt that hit right at the knee, black stockings and sky high heels, and a short sleeved black V necked t-shirt. The only color in her outfit came from the turquoise in her earrings and chunky bracelet. Oliver's black suit matched her perfectly and he kept his arm around her the whole night taking any opportunity to brush his hand over the curve of her butt.

The band stopped playing and Oliver and Ali gave a joint toast to their parents, then Robert and Laura took to the floor for a dance. They swirled around the dance floor gracefully, completely in sync after years together. About halfway through the song Oliver led Ali out onto the floor and Ali joined them in the arms of her God-father, Robert's oldest friend who had been in the military with him.

As the next song began to play Robert claimed Chloe as his partner, Oliver took Ali, and Laura chose Hal. Robert grinned at his wife. "Even tonight, she's plotting."

"What?" Chloe asked then laughed as she saw Laura in Hal's arms. "Yes, yes she is."

"And you my dear are a double agent." Chloe's eyes gleamed and Robert lowered his voice playfully. "Tell me, how do you decide to work with her or against her? Do you flip a coin? Test the direction the wind is blowing?"

"Robert… I have to be able to maintain _some_ of my secrets."

"Good luck with that in this family, my dear, you'll need it."

CO-CO-CO

A few hours into the party Chloe was distracted from her conversation with a city council member by Oliver's hand clenching almost painfully on her waist. She smoothed her hand over his and he released his grip. Chloe quickly got rid of the politician and turned to Oliver. "What's wrong?" He looked almost like a kid who'd lost his puppy. "Oliver?"

"Nothing," he quickly denied. "Do you want another drink?" He stepped away from her but she pulled him back to her side firmly. She looked over to where his gaze had been directed, and found Ali standing with Hal. She smiled at Oliver compassionately.

The way Ali was standing told a story that Oliver had clearly just opened his eyes to. Ali was turned to Hal, her body curved towards his, their gazes locked. Her hand was on his arm and his arm was resting along the mantle behind her, and she was clearly standing within the circle of his arms. She was smiling, her face alive with emotion. The simple term for what there were doing was flirting.

"Ollie, it's OK." He blinked at her, clearly not believing her words. She moved closer to him and pitched her voice low to keep her words private. "There is something between them. There has been for awhile. You know that." A muscle began ticking in his jaw, and she brushed her hand over his cheek, trying to settle him. "It's not happening now."

"Then what is that?" Oliver asked explosively.

"Flirting. Fun. Ali exploring what is there. She's not ready to jump in Ollie, she knows he's your best friend. This is just the beginning." His eyes narrowed. "Not even the beginning. The prequel to the beginning," she said with a hint of exasperation peeking through. "I thought you had gotten over this crazy overprotective thing."

Oliver ignored her accusation of his back-pedaling when it came to Ali being an adult. "Some best friend," he grumbled.

Chloe frowned at him. "He is your friend, your best friend. And he's not acting on that," she waved her hand at the would be couple, "because she is _your_ sister."

"I'm not ready for her to be serious with anyone, but I guess, if it has to be someone it might as well be Hal," Oliver said in a defeated tone.

Chloe rolled her eyes. "So generous."

Oliver lead her outside and down the steps to the lower deck where he'd asked her to marry him and actually put the ring on her finger. "I know it's irrational. I can't help it."

Chloe smiled, her emotions in her eyes. "I know. You love her. She's not leaving you Ollie, especially if she ends up with Hal."

"It's not that, I just… I know she's dating guys, but I worry. I hate seeing her hurt."

"You're sweet," she said emotionally. "And strong, and sexy, and amazing…" she flirted, wrapping her arms around his neck and peppering kisses up his neck to his mouth. "Any girl would be lucky to have you for a brother."

"I'm not feeling all the brotherly at the moment," Oliver said low in his throat as his hands skimmed over her curves.

"Any girl would be lucky to have you for a husband."

"Well, they're out of luck, I'm taken."

Chloe smiled and kissed him deeply until Hal's voice interrupted them. "Seriously dude, you're lucky you're taken, 'cause that was some sappy shit. Chicks don't dig that." He grinned. "Unless they're in love with you, of course."

Ali giggled and Chloe pulled back with a smile, leaving Oliver the only one frowning. "Your turn is coming Hal, we'll see who's laughing when it's you who falls in love and can't tell his head from his ass."

Hal shrugged, but both Chloe and Oliver caught the way his eyes involuntarily moved to Ali.

_Chloe's outfit: /pin/282741682825741255/ with /pin/282741682826180803/_

CO-CO-CO

"_Family traditions counter alienation and confusion. They help us define who we are; they provide something steady, _reliable and safe in a confusing world." Susan Lieberman

(Aug., 2011) Chloe's transition to living in Star City had been easier than she'd thought. She'd made a few friends a work who seemed to like her for her, and not for being Oliver's fiancée. She'd had her first front page story, albeit below the fold. She had dinner with her mother every other Wednesday, and was slowly getting to know her mother. Living with Oliver was easy, and while they argued sometimes, they worked things out. The sex was fantastic, and the makeup sex even better. The Queens were warm and as wonderful as Chloe had always thought, and even Laura made an effort to not intrude on them as they settled into their new lives together.

The wedding plans were proceeding, with Laura, Lois and Ali lending a hand and their opinions. Chloe found herself not caring all that much about things that seemed to stress out other brides. The only thing she really obsessed over was the dress. They'd looked. And looked, and looked, but to no avail. In the end Laura had taken Ali to a few designers and Chloe had decided to get a dress made for her.

Ali was leaving in two days to return to Metropolis for school and this would be their last family brunch for awhile. It had become a new tradition: Sunday brunches at Queen Manner. Always with the immediate family, but sometimes others would join them. Moira, Gabe, Hal, the team members, Lois and Clark.

Chloe was sad to see Ali go back to Metropolis, especially since Ali was definitely her best friend in Star City so far.

That day they would have a crowd at brunch, with all the team and Lois and Clark coming as well as Hal, and Victor was bringing his new girlfriend. But Chloe wasn't looking forward to it. The previous weekend the paparazzi had gotten a picture of her in a bikini at the beach and her picture had been plastered all over the media for the past five days. Chloe was mortified. She thought she looked good, but that didn't mean she wanted everyone in the country to know what she looked like with only two scraps of fabric covering her body.

"_For anyone still wondering, pictures of Oliver Queen's fiancée snapped at a private beach near his parents' home outside Star City might answer the question of why her?"_

"_The newest Queen showed off her assets at the beach this week in a skimpy green bikini. It's no wonder this brainy beauty ensnared Star City's most eligible bachelor."_

"_Chloe Sullivan, the fiancée of billionaire Oliver Queen, is embracing the beach lifestyle of her new home, and showed of her curves in a stylish green bikini."_

Chloe knew she was going to be teased at brunch, and she wasn't looking forward to it. Oliver had to drag Chloe out of her "cave" that morning, the room now decorated with bright colors, a comfortable couch, a desk and numerous bookcases, all filled with books and knickknacks.

CO-CO-CO

Stepping out onto the deck where brunch was always held, Chloe received several whistles and cat calls, the loudest of which came from Lois. Chloe pouted and Oliver wrapped his arm around her comfortingly.

"Mamacita hotness… how about you and I hit the beach later?" Bart flirted.

"I knew you'd look good in a suit," AC laughed, giving her a once over. "You should come visit me and help strum up business for my bar."

"Not hiding your assets now, are you?" Lois said loudly.

"Ignore them Chloe, you looked very lovely," Laura offered her motherly take on it.

"I knew you'd look good in that bikini," Ali offered.

CO-CO-CO

_"Every man is responsible only for his own acts. The sons do not inherit the sins of the fathers. But can we say: that was long ago, they were different?" Aleksander Kwasniewski_

(Sept., 2011) Ali was beginning her Junior year and taking the last of her GE courses, biology. She still didn't like science, and had left that requirement to the end. She wanted to take it now just in case she needed to repeat it. Sitting in the large lecture style classroom, Ali struggled to look interested as the teacher called her name. "Alicia Queen?"

"Here," she called out, used to the routine and used to the stares that followed her name. She continued to doodle in her notebook, ignoring the whispers. A student entered as the professor got to the end of his list of students.

"Alex Zamir?"

"Here."

"Sorry, I'm a late add," the boy who had entered late said and Ali looked up in surprise.

The teacher accepted his paperwork and looked down at it. "Julian Luthor." The teacher's head popped up and he glanced at Ali before looking back at Julian. "Julian Luthor. Have a seat anywhere," the professor invited awkwardly.

The whispering started again, and Ali made a quick decision. She raised her hand to get Julian's attention. He looked surprised and grateful as she indicated the free seat next to her.

"Hi Julian, tell me you're good at science," Ali greeted warmly, as if unaware of the stares from their classmates and professor.

"Uh, yeah," Julian said, not as used to the attention. He'd grown up far removed from the Luthor name and fame. "I do alright." He slid low into the seat next to her.

"Good, then maybe I stand a chance in this class."

CO-CO-CO

Exiting the class, Julian smiled genuinely at Ali. "Thanks for that."

"No problem," Ali smiled. "Listen, people talk, they stare, they'll say odd things to you and act like you should expect it. You'll get used to it."

"Great," Julian said darkly.

"You know… There's no reason for us not to be friends."

"I'm pretty sure there is."

Ali put her hand on his arm to stop him as they had arrived at the building where her next class was located. "I know the difference between you and your father. And, we probably have quite a bit in common."

"I didn't grow up rich and famous, so if that's what you're thinking…" Julian said with a more relaxed smile.

"OK, maybe not, but we both have overachieving older brothers. Super successful fathers. Beautiful mothers." Ali grinned.

"You're beautiful too," Julian said then flushed again.

"Thanks."

"Why are you being so nice to me?"

"Why not? I told you, we could be friends."

Kara waved at Ali from a short distance away. "Hey, Ali, lunch today?" Ali nodded and Kara smiled and rushed away.

"Seems like you already have a lot of friends."

"You can never have too many friends. When I first came to Metropolis someone took me under their wing. Maybe it's time I paid that forward."

CO-CO-CO

(October, 2011) Oliver was at the office when he received a notification from the oldest bank in Star City where he had reserved a safety deposit box for one specific reason. The box had been accessed.

Oliver cancelled his next appointment and went to the bank immediately. Oliver entered the secured room with the bank manager, who used his key to open one lock then left Oliver alone to open the second lock.

Oliver took a deep breath and pulled the narrow box from its slot. Setting it on the table he opened it to find a black velvet bag with a lump. He shook the bag into his hand and out fell a gold ring with a flat gold centerpiece with a L and a star on a black background. Oliver grasped the ring carefully between two of his fingers, examining it closely.

Satisfied he slipped it back into the bag and into the velvet bag, before slipping it into his pocket.

He never put it on his finger. He had no reason to go anywhere, his life had everything he could want right now. Especially not now that he had the ability to chase Chloe trough time if he needed to.

CO-CO-CO

"_Love is a symbol of eternity. It wipes out all sense of time, destroying all memory of a beginning and all fear of an end." Author Unknown_

(December 30, 2011) "Hi everyone, I'm Ali," she introduced herself as if there were people seated at the tables around the restaurant who didn't know her or who she was. " I… don't really like speaking in public, but I agreed to give a speech tonight if Ollie wouldn't make me speak tomorrow." She earned a laugh, and seemed to relax a bit. "The truth is I wouldn't do this for anyone else, except Oliver and Chloe."

The restaurant was small and booked entirely for a private party. White tulips sat in tight bunches at the center of each table with the lights in the restaurant dimed, and the space warmed by the flickering of candles.

She glanced at Ollie and suddenly looked mischievous. "For those of you who knew Ollie before he met Chloe, or maybe happened to glance at a paper in the last decade or so, you probably know that he never had a hard time finding love… or something that looked like it." Oliver shot her a look but nodded his head in acknowledgement, while Chloe grinned at him.

"François, duc de La Rochefoucauld said that 'True love is like ghosts, which everyone talks about and few have seen.' But I have. Ollie and I grew up with my parents. Maybe you've noticed them canoodling up here in the front." The gathered family and friends in the wedding party laughed again as did Robert and Laura Queen, who were at the moment sitting tightly together with Robert's arm around her shoulders. "The fact that our parents love each other so much made for an amazing childhood. But it also gave Oliver and I some pretty high expectations for our lives." She paused and smiled at Chloe and Oliver. "True love."

Ali's smile wobbled and her eyes got shiny, but she regained control. "To be honest, I don't know that Oliver was looking for love, but then he met Chloe. She was my tour guide at Met U, and when she and Ollie met there were immediately fireworks…but not really the lovey-dovey kind." Ali arched one eyebrow and laughed. "In fact, on one memorable day, Chloe gave Oliver a black eye when he tried his '_charm'_ on her- which, I have to say, only made me love her more. But somehow Ollie managed to win her over and I couldn't be more happy."

Chloe and Oliver kissed and the audience practically sighed as the emotion swelled. "In the beginning I worried, you see as much as I love my brother, Chloe became my sister long before their first date. But it didn't take long to see how in love they both were, and how right they were for each other."

"We all agreed to include a quote in our speeches, and I know I've already used mine, but I have another. Oliver was ten years old when I was born and in his eyes I will always be his baby sister. So I'd like to close with a quote from Dr. Seuss. 'You know you're in love when you don't want to fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.'" Ali smiled and her eyes grew shiny with moisture again. She swallowed back her tears and finished. "Our parents may have set the bar high, but I think Oliver has reached it." She raised her glass and the room followed her lead. "To Oliver and Chloe, may your reality always keep pace with your dreams."

CO-CO-CO

"I'm Gabe, Gabe Sullivan, Chloe's father. I'm not great at speaking out at events, like this one. Chloe was and is my best accomplishment, and she's always spoken for herself." A few notable voices in the audience laughed, most noticeably Oliver's parents, Lois, the General and the JLA team members. Gab had also chosen to speak at their rehearsal dinner, not trusting that he would be able to hold it together after seeing his baby walk down the aisle.

"For those of you who are fathers with daughters, you can understand how today is very bittersweet for me. I can't blame Chloe, she's been preparing me for this day for a long time. I still remember the horror I felt when she brought home her first boyfriend, and it's been a steady stream since then." Gabe pulled a pained face, and the audience laughed with him, especially when Oliver frowned and glanced at Chloe with reprobation. "I thought I was hardened to the idea of my daughter dating. Then she introduced me to _Oliver Queen_," Gabe said Oliver's name in a tone that expressed dread which earned another laugh.

"I don't even think they were dating yet - that's another thing fathers of daughters will understand, they don't tell you nearly enough, then when they finally do, it's so much more than you wanted to know." That pained statement brought forth a round of masculine laughter. "They might not have been dating, but when I saw the way Chloe looked at Oliver, I knew that my baby had found someone who was more to her than all the ones who came before, and I knew in that moment that she was going to leave her old man, sooner rather than later." Chloe and Gabe shared a look and a smile then Gabe turned his gaze to Oliver. "I pinned my hopes on Oliver, that he was some spoiled, selfish man-child, and that he would quickly lose her esteem" Gabe sighed deeply. "Alas, it was not meant to be." The audience laughed long and hard, and Gabe smiled.

"Oliver, at first glance, was not who I imagined for my daughter. Too rich, too charming, too successful. With his parents' good looks and his own brand of charisma, he was entirely too slick for my liking. And too tall." The audience laughed again and Oliver made a gesture of supplication towards Gabe, as if asking for forgiveness. "But then I got to know Oliver as a person, and I realized that not only was he a good man, but that he looked at Chloe with the same deep regard that she held for him. It was crushing." The audience went from happy, emotional tears to laughter again. "There was the man who was going to take my daughter from me."

"But when someone makes your child as happy as Oliver makes Chloe, you can't complain. Luckily the Queens are warm and wonderful people, and have welcomed Chloe's family, including her poor old dad, into the fold."

"I think that anyone who has seen the two of them together knows that they are in love, and that their love is not based on Oliver's millions, or Chloe's sarcasm. As much as it hurt to see Chloe look at Oliver with her heart in her eyes that first time, I now hope that she will still be looking at him that same way in 50 years."

"We're supposed to use a quote in our speeches, so here is mine. 'Love one another and you will be happy. It's as simple and as difficult as that.'"

CO-CO-CO

"_Marriage is not a love affair. A love affair is a totally different thing. A love affair… is a relationship of pleasure, and when it gets to be unpleasurable , it's off. But a marriage is a life commitment, and a life commitment means the prime concern of your life. If marriage is not the prime concern, you are not married." Joseph Campbell quotes_

(December 31, 2011) "Love is an act of faith. To give your love to someone an hope they are worthy of your trust and devotion. To believe that their love for you is equal to your own."

Chloe stood facing each other on a sea bluff the ocean spread out beyond them. Chloe was dressed in a strapless wedding gown that was tight to the just below her waist then flared out. Oliver stood tall in a traditional black tuxedo. "If ever two people have proven their love and their devotion to each other, it is Chloe and Oliver," the officiant read words that most including the officiant took as figurative.

"You have come here today to join your lives together with your family and friends as witnesses. The promise you give each other today is not just between you two, but is a promise that binds each of your loved ones together as each is a piece of you and will share in the life you have chosen to create together."

"If any of you has reasons why these two should not be married, speak now or forever hold your peace." Hal, standing as best man, turned to raise one eyebrow at the assembled guests, earning a laugh. "Every marriage goes through conflict, and your friends and family can either encourage your anger at each other, or help you see through it, reminding you of your love and commitment."

"Many people consider a marriage to be between two people, and ultimately it is. But in your daily life, the people around play an important part. Today, as Oliver and Chloe promise each other forever, I ask that all of you, their family and friends, also make a promise. A promise to stand by them, support them, and respect their bond and promise to each other."

It was a small wedding with under 100 people seated in white chair in a grassy field next to Queen Manner. Standing beside Chloe were Lois and Ali, Oliver had Hal, and Victor at his side. Robert and Laura sat side by side, their hands clasped tightly, while on Chloe's side Gabe and Moira shared a warm look of pride as their daughter stood before them with the man who would be their son-in-law within a matter of minutes. The General was next to Moira, with his best stoic look in place.

Mrs. Kent was also in the front row on Chloe's side, and discreetly wiped her eyes. Clark and Kara sat to her side.

"Do you, Oliver Queen, take Chloe to be your lawful wedded wife? Do you promise to love, honor and cherish her for all the days of your life?"

"I do. Today, tomorrow, in this world and all others, I promise to stand beside you, to hold you when you need my strength, to turn to you when I need solace, for encouragement, and for inspiration. I promise to share all that I am and all that I have with you, in sadness and joy, in sickness and health. I promise to be faithful and true, to show you every day how much you mean to me, to always make you feel the strength of my love for you, for the rest of our lives."

"If someone said to me that I had found the love of a lifetime with you, I would have to say that they were wrong. The way I feel about you could never be contained to one lifetime. Chloe, you have been the making of me in ways that I could never have imagined before knowing you. I love you, in this and every lifetime. You asked me once if I was happy, and I was; for the most part, I always have been. My family gave me all the security, affirmation and love that I could ever need, and therefore, I never felt the need to look for love, to settle down."

"It wasn't until I met you that I realized what happiness really was, and I understood that I had never needed to look for love, because fate had already set you in my path, and I had only to get to that moment, to you, to find love." Chloe was crying, tears slipping down her cheeks and Oliver paused in his vows to wipe his thumb under her eye to clear away the moisture there. "If our destiny is shaped by the choices we make, then I am grateful for every choice- good and bad – that I have made up until this moment. Plato thought that lovers were two halves of one soul that had been split and spent forever searching for each other to reunite. All I know is that you are necessary for my life, my happiness, and my soul. You are my love, my wife, and will be for the remainder of this lifetime and all others." Chloe smiled up at him through her tears, her face alight with love as Oliver stared into her eyes as he gave her his promise of forever.

"Do you, Chloe Sullivan, take Oliver to be your lawful wedded husband? Do you promise to love, honor and cherish him for all the days of your life?"

"I do. Today, tomorrow, in this world and all others, I promise to stand beside you, to hold you when you need my strength, to turn to you when I need solace, for encouragement, and for inspiration. I promise to share all that I am and all that I have with you, in sadness and joy, in sickness and health. I promise to be faithful and true, to show you every day how much you mean to me, to always make you feel the strength of my love for you, for the rest of our lives."

"People say that you spend the new year doing whatever it is you did on new year's eve. I hope they're right, because tonight I'm standing here with you, celebrating our love for each other. Every day I wake up thinking that I couldn't love you any more, but each night when you wrap me in your arms as we fall asleep I realize that I was wrong. Spending my life with you, loving you, and having you love me back every day, through all our years, is the best possible thing I could imagine. You have been the most important part of my yesterdays, my today, and my tomorrows. For you see, each day I love you more, today more than yesterday and less than tomorrow."

Chloe's eyes were filled with tears and her voice waivered, but she continued. "This life is full of amazing things, but the best thing I have ever experienced is hearing you tell me that you love me, and knowing that you only, that you truly, wanted my love in return." Oliver squeezed her hand tightly, his eyes steady and dry.

"We are now ready for the exchange of rings. Please repeat after me: May this ring forever be to you the symbol of my growing love. With this ring, I thee wed."

Oliver slipped the ring onto Chloe's finger. "May this ring forever be to you the symbol of my growing love. With this ring, I thee wed."

Chloe gave him her 1000 watt smile, complete with still wet eyes, and pushed the ring onto his much larger hand. "May this ring forever be to you the symbol of my growing love. With this ring, I thee wed."

The officiant smiled. "I now pronounce you husband and wife, you may kiss the bride."

Their gathered family and friends cheered as Oliver leaned down and kissed Chloe, lightly, then harder as he wrapped his arms around her tightly. Chloe flushed and pulled back as the hooting and cheers intruded on the moment, but Oliver wasn't ready to let go and framed Chloe's face with his hands and her in place for another kiss as the sun set behind them.

CO-CO-CO

"_What would happen if history could be rewritten as casually as erasing a blackboard?  
Our past would be like the shifting sands at the seashore, constantly blown this way or that by the slightest breeze. History would be constantly changing every time someone spun the dial of a time machine and blundered his or her way into the past. History, as we know it, would be impossible.  
It would cease to exist." Michio Kaku_

* * *

_AN- words 6854, when my muse is ready to write lemons again, I'm going to go back and write their first time together in Paris and maybe one more love scene to round out the story. When I do I'll post as new/missing scenes in new posts then add them into the actual chapters. If anyone has some good ideas for what Gabe's future should hold, I'm open for suggestions for the sequels…_

_Chloe's quote from her vows is by Rosemonde Gerard._

_Things I visualized for their wedding/reception:_

_Wedding dress: /pin/282741682825915907/_

_Buttoner for Oliver: /pin/282741682826350049/_

_Wedding photos: /pin/282741682826246237/ and /pin/282741682826349930/_

_Lights under an outdoor tent: /pin/282741682826349926/_

_Outdoor tables: /pin/282741682826349931/_

_Reception centerpieces: /pin/282741682826235281/_


End file.
